


Jason Todd? More Like Dean Winchester

by keykiyoshi7443



Series: Jason Winchester [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Supernatural, Under the Red Hood
Genre: Angels are Dicks, Crossover, DEAN IS A BADASS, Demons Are Assholes, Emotional Jason, Gordon got no chill, Hurt Dean Winchester, John Blake is Dick Grayson, M/M, Officer Dick Grayson, Protective Jason, Resurrected Jason Todd, Shit Hits The Fan, Slow Build, Spoilers, Tim Drake is Robin, Weird Plot Shit, then WHAM they're in a relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-10
Updated: 2016-11-10
Packaged: 2018-05-19 11:23:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 34
Words: 89,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5965519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keykiyoshi7443/pseuds/keykiyoshi7443
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason Todd wasn't always Jason Todd. When John gets fed up with Dean he leaves him behind. So Dean decides to make a new life for himself in Gotham. Everything is going smoothly for Jason - he has a stable relationship, he's accepted by the Batfamily again and the Red Hood is controlling crime - when he suddenly gets a call from Bobby asking for help. Meanwhile Sam has been traveling with the angel Castiel in an attempt to find Michael's vessel, his long lost brother. He asks Bobby to call a good hunter to help him and gets more than he expected.</p><p>Jason expected to return to the world of hunting alone, but shit hits the fan when a certain Batfamily decides to interfere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to Gotham

**Author's Note:**

> So this is trash

Dean had made a mistake. It shouldn’t have changed things but it did. Instead it cost him his family. No it didn’t kill anyone, but they no longer wanted them. It shouldn’t have earned him more than a scolding and extra training. He only went out for an hour, and Sam had been asleep.

 

Nothing out of the ordinary should have happened. But it did. When he had been out for _only an hour_ , it shouldn’t have mattered, but the thing they were hunting was dangerous. It hunted children and Sam was alone and vulnerable.

 

In all reality there wouldn’t have been much Dean could have done other than get killed and buy time. But it was like a soldier had abandoned his post. It simply wasn’t acceptable for Dean to go out. For Dean to Disobey orders, it was completely unacceptable.

 

Because Dean was a soldier, and he was only as good as he was at obeying. He wasn’t a child anymore. He was a soldier, a soldier in the never ending war against everything that went bump in the night. They couldn’t afford for him to make mistakes.

 

He was only 9 years old, and yet he was charged with protecting Sam with his very _life_ if necessary. He shouldn’t have to, every other child his age was worried about what they would be getting for their birthday, while Dean was worried about how he would _survive_ until his next birthday.

 

He was only 9 years old, but he had been abandoned by his family for a silly little mistake that shouldn’t have mattered. But he left Sam alone, and Sam almost died. In his father’s eyes that was an uncorrectable mistake.  His father had scolded him harshly and poor innocent little Dean thought that would be it.

 

Instead he woke up to find that he had been left behind. When he checked outside of the motel room, the Impala was gone and so were his brother and father. They could have simply gone to get food were it not for the fact that they had taken their packs with them.

 

Luckily for Dean, his father had left him a bag of clothes and weapons - well weapons that would help him if he had to defend himself against the supernatural or a common thug - and enough money for both transport and food.

 

It wouldn’t last him long, especially if he planned on getting a bus ticket anywhere, but it would have to do. Dean knew why he had been left behind. He understood that his father was just doing his best to protect Sam, but Dean was his son too. His father should also be trying to protect Dean.

 

But at least he had been kind enough to leave him some supplies. He could have left him with nothing. Dean could easily try and chase them down, but they could be anywhere. And his father would only be disappointed that he didn’t know when he wasn’t wanted.

 

Despite what some of his teachers said, Dean was a smart boy. He was good with cars - he had watched his father fix up the Impala more than enough times to understand the basic mechanics of a car. He had learned how to fix cars and developed quite an appreciation for cars.

 

He knew how to get by and where a homeless kid would attract the least attention. In any of the smaller towns he wouldn’t be able to get a job or a place to stay without questions being asked. He couldn’t draw attention to himself either, that would be just plain stupid.

 

If there was one thing he had learned from his father, it was that it was always better to be overlooked than to be noticed. It was both easier to gather information and to go unseen. He would have to find a city with a high enough crime rate that he could get away with stealing.

 

He had picked up on how to pickpocket and on how to steal valuable things. He also knew what was good to sell and where to sell it. That was valuable information and just might be the thing that would get him through the next few months.

 

Unfortunately the supernatural activity was usually in remote places so he didn’t know much of cities, but there had been the odd case that had been in a big city. In a big city it was easy to be just another face in the crowd, but it was also harder to realize that there was supernatural things going on.

 

Plus a hunter with two kids - well now he would only have to worry about one - wouldn’t be able to handle a case in a big city. People would get too suspicious and the monster would be more skilled. It would have to be, to hide in plain sight. So Dean hadn’t been to that many big cities.

 

But he did know of one that had had an incredible crime problem. Gotham was truly an impressive city. It had both common thugs and crime lords. Both rich business guy and the everyday citizen. And they all existed in relative harmony.

 

But what was also remarkable about Gotham was the fact that it had super heroes and villains. They had visited Gotham only once, his father had thought there had been a large hunt  because of all the unusual deaths. But as it turns out it had been a super villain trying to gain the Batman's attention.

 

They had left soon after, but Gotham seemed to be devoid of supernatural problems. Every sighting of something could be explained as an attack by one of Gotham’s many super villains. His dad made it a point to teach his children that you shouldn’t hurt a human unless you absolutely had too.

 

They weren’t the monsters that they were tasked with protecting humanity from. That was the police’s job to handle. But Dean had learned a lot in their short stay at Gotham. He learned just how horrible life could be there. He learned what it was like to be on the streets of Gotham.

 

During his short stay he had made a friend. His name had been Jason Todd and his mother had been a drug addict. His father happened to work with the villain that they thought had been  a supernatural creature.

 

Dean learned from Jason that all things concerned, he had a pretty good life. He didn’t have to worry about his father coming home drunk and beating him like Jason had had to. He didn’t have to worry about his mom overdosing or being attacked by a dealer looking for money.

 

Jason had had to steal and work to make sure that he had enough money to get by. It was Jason that had taught Dean how to live on the streets, and Dean couldn’t help but feel grateful. It would help him a great deal when surviving on the streets.

 

And so Dean Winchester traveled to Gotham and managed to survive on the streets. He had originally wanted to meet up with Jason, only to learn that he had been killed by an overdose. His neighbours had secretly gotten rid of the bodies so as not to draw attention to their particular location.

 

Though it wouldn’t have mattered much to the police. So many people died in Gotham on a daily basis that they didn’t even bother to count, let alone find out people’s names. This would work out in Dean’s favour. He couldn’t just go as Dean Winchester anymore, going by your real name is what gets you killed.

 

But no one really remembers poor little Jason Todd anymore. Dean chose to use his late friend’s name and history to hide within the streets to get by. It was better for people to think that he was a drug addicted woman’s son than for him to be traced back to his father.

 

His father still went by John Winchester and he couldn’t risk one day getting caught and having his criminal activities pinned on his father. It would hinder him in his hunt and Dean knew that his father would be greatly disappointed in him for doing a sloppy job with his cover up.

 

And that’s how Dean lived for a time. Living as Jason Todd and learning the city, stealing when he needed money and simply living. He didn’t give up on training, he knew it was unlikely that his father would ever return to Gotham, or that a creature would chose this cursed city as it’s home, but he wanted to be prepared.

 

He also needed to be strong enough to fight off any criminal and street thug that thought they could get in his way. Everything was going fine until the day that he got a little too bold. He had come across the Batmobile and thought he’d caught the prize of a lifetime.

 

The tires would easily sell for a thousand each - he’d probably be able to make enough money to actually find decent shelter for the first time in what seemed like forever. He grinned to himself as he set to work.

 

It should have gone fine. But then the Bat himself had shown up. “What do you think you’re doing” the menacing figure of Batman growled. Trying to act unfazed by the fact that he had been caught Dean simply replied with “What does it look like, wise guy. I’m stealing your tires”

 

He figured that going for sarcastic street rat might work in his favour. But the Bat only seemed to be more angered by his statement. “And what” he begins in a low voice “makes you think you can get away with that?”

 

Dean shrugs, he doesn’t really know himself. He sets his tire iron down and turns to face Batman fully. “Well, you weren’t here and hey!” he says “a kid's gotta eat to live and unfortunately I gotta steal to eat.” He smirked up at the dark figure.

 

Dean was completely and utterly terrified but he tried his best not to let it show. Never let the enemy know just how afraid you are. You can’t reveal just how weak you were. But since when was Batman the enemy? “You will put the tires back on, little boy” the Batman said gruffly.

 

“And then I’ll take you back to your place to have a talk with your parents.” he said. Dean couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Was this guy serious? “And what makes you think that I actually have a place to stay” he accused “I’m stealing tires for a reason. My parents have been gone for a long time mister so I’m afraid that you don’t have anyone you’re gonna be able to talk too”

 

He mentally slaps himself at the slip up. Just great, now he would probably end up taking him to some stupid orphanage. Despite that very real possibility, he still set to work on reattaching the two wheels that he had managed to remove.

 

He had a feeling that if he didn’t follow orders he would be in much more trouble than he already was in. Best to try and do some damage control. His sass was clearly as unappreciated with the hero as it was with his father.

 

Batman was silent for a while. Dean had managed to reattach one of the tires and was working on the second before he responded. “What’s your name kid?” he asked. Dean thought about lying with a third name before responding with “Jason Todd”

 

He was the great Bat after all, if he wanted to he would find out eventually, plus it would put him in better graces with the Bat if he at least attempted to be truthful. But he definitely wouldn’t give his real name away. He hadn’t used it in so long that it actually seemed a bit distant to him.

 

He lived and breathed as Jason Todd now, Dean Winchester was simply a bad memory. There was no point in bringing up the past if it wasn’t necessary. It was unlikely that Batman would care anyway. He was just like any other street rat out there.

 

The only difference was that he was braver. He had seen a lot worse than the common street thug. He had fought worse, there was no reason for him to be afraid of them. It was only logical that he would end up taking bigger risks than any other homeless brat.

 

He finished with the last tire and made a move to leave when Batman began to speak again. “I’m going to take you to someone who can look after you” he said suddenly. It was out of the blue and completely random. There was no reason why Batman would ever do this.

 

He probably ran into hundreds of homeless children on his rounds of the city, so why was Dean any different. Sure he might be the only one to try and take the Batmobile’s tires, but that didn’t seem like something that would make Batman notice him.

 

At most he should have simply left him to run off to wherever he would be staying for the night. Maybe even throw him a bone with a couple of dollars. The man was funded by the Bruce Wayne. He probably had funds to spare.

 

“Aw hell no” Dean said “no way are you taking me to some foster place. I’m too old for the system, no one would want me anyway. Plus I’d just wander off and end up on the streets again.” He continued flippantly. Attempting to put on an indifferent mask on.

 

He was only halfway successful and Batman saw right through it. Dean was nervous, even the cold dark knight could tell. “No, I won’t take you to a foster place.” Dean glared at him briefly before turning to walk a little closer to the Batmobile.

  
“Better not be the police station either. I’ll have you know that I’m very capable of breaking out if you do.” He said as he walked to the Batmobile and jumped in. Batman could only shake his head before following the kid. ‘He’s something else’ Batman thought.


	2. The Fall of Jason Todd and the Rebirth of Dean Winchester

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! So I just realized that both Jason Todd and Dean Winchester have both:  
> \- died and come back to life  
> \- dug themselves out of their own graves  
> \- had major daddy issues  
> \- been voiced by Jensen Ackles
> 
> This is amazing. Their attitudes even seem the same on occasion. It's pretty cool! 
> 
> Btw, Dean was 9 when he was left behind by his father and he was 14 when the Joker killed him.

And that was the start of a beautiful partnership. Jason had been taken to live with Bruce Wayne and eventually became the second Robin. Jason excelled at it, drawing on his previous years of training as a hunter to aid his fighting style.

 

Dick had been an acrobat so his fighting style was long distance focused on agility. Jason was raised as a hunter and then a street kid, he didn’t fight fair and it was very weapon and hand to hand oriented.

 

He excelled at close combat, but if it involved guns (John wasn’t a big fan of sword or anything of the sort - well unless it is to fight vampires) he was very capable of working with them. As soon as Batman had learned this - Jason had taken one of the police’s handguns and had shot the Joker in the knee before he could escape - he had immediately taken measures to make sure that Jason knew not to use guns.

 

His shot wasn’t even fatal, but since he didn’t want to piss off his first decent father figure, he refrained from using guns. As it was Bruce was disappointed in his fighting style. He was too violent and didn’t show much mercy when delivering his blows.

 

He wasn’t a kind fighter because he knew that anyone else wouldn’t show him the same mercy despite the fact that he was a child. Despite the slight unease that Bruce had concerning Jason’s fighting style and slightly messed up sense of justice, Bruce cared deeply for Jason.

 

He treated him like a son, and not like a soldier, he was the father that Dean had always wanted. Jason still enjoyed the thrill of the hunt, the only difference was what he hunted. They were both monsters in their own rights, but these ones hurt way more people than the supernatural has.

 

With the supernatural it goes anywhere from 1 to a couple hundred deaths at most. These villains take out hundreds easily in mere hours after escape. To Jason they were much more dangerous than any supernatural creature.

 

And that’s how things were for a while, the constant routine. Bruce had forced Jason to attend Gotham Academy so that he could have a good education, and surprisingly enough Jason excelled at it.

 

When he traveled with John he never cared about school because he would just end up leaving in a couple weeks anyway. But that was Dean and now he was Jason. Jason loved to learn and despite his hatred for stuck up rich brats,he did well in school.

 

Jason had never had the chance to enjoy school, so he took every chance he could now. Of course, his personality still got in the way and had him labeled delinquent very fast. But he did well grade wise, so Bruce didn’t think it was that bad.

 

He mostly got in trouble for protecting other students from bullying anyway. The principal just turned a blind eye to everything the bullies ever did simply because they were rich. He was such a pushover and Jason didn’t hesitate to tell him that.

 

That was another thing that he kept getting in trouble for, talking back. It had started at a young age, he was overcompensating for not protesting at all when John gave orders, and unfortunately it stayed with him.

 

Though slowly but surely, Bruce was beginning to get him to think for himself in the battle field instead of waiting for orders. He knew how to fight on his own and compensate for any variables, but he still tended to hesitate every now and then waiting for orders.

 

Sometimes it was good as it helped Bruce make sure he didn’t kill anyone, and he had come awful close on some occasions. The routine of going to school in the day and looking after Gotham at night went well for a while. They had fought together for 5 years when something changed.

 

On that one fateful day, Jason got kidnapped by the Joker and everything went downhill from there. He had been held for 3 days. Being beaten to near death by a crowbar, waiting for Batman, no Bruce to come save him.

 

Batman had finally found the location, but by then it had been too late because Joker had blown the entire building skyhigh. It was too late and Jason Todd was dead. Bruce mourned him for months after his death. A long absent Dick had even returned to help Bruce get over his death and move on, but he was stuck in a funk.

 

Then Tim Drake happened and helped Bruce move on and accept the death of his second son. He moved on but he never forgot the sweet little boy that hid behind a tough mask. but fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, the dead did not stay dead.

 

Jason soon found himself waking up inside of his own coffin not having a clue how he got there. All he remembered was that the Joker had left a bomb in the warehouse, and that Batman wouldn’t arrive on time. He remembered accepting the fact that he would die and closing his eyes just as the clock struck zero.

 

He didn’t know where he was or how he had gotten there. All that he knew was that it was beginning to get hard to breathe and that he was trapped in some sort of box. He searches his clothes for a weapon, but was unable to find anything.

 

Resorting to using his belt buckle to rip through the soft padding to the wood, he began to dig his way out with his bare hands. It took time and his fingers were bleeding heavily by the time he even got out of the box. He felt like giving up as soon as he realized that he wasn’t free yet.

 

He did in fact almost give up, but he pushed through. he could do it, he could dig his way out of wherever he had been placed after the bomb. He fought on and dug his way up to the surface. He almost passed out by the time he managed to get to the surface.

 

Taking a big gasp of air as he broke through the earth at the base of his resting place, he managed to get the rest of his body out before collapsing. He took a big breath of air before crying out in pain. His ribs were still broken and he still had all of the injuries from the Joker, though for some reason they appeared to be clean.

 

He groaned and rolled over in an attempt to relieve some of the pressure on his ribs as he took shallow breaths. After a couple moments and some much needed oxygen, he managed to calm down long enough to think. Where was he? And more importantly, where was Bruce?

 

Mustering up enough strength to open his eyes he looked around. His eyes widened a fraction as he realized that he was in a graveyard. Turning his gaze to the area of land where he had just crawled out of, he was shocked to see that it wasn’t just any grave he was sitting on.

 

It was his own.

 

He took a quick breath of air in shock before curling in on himself in pain. It seemed like hours of agony before he heard footsteps. He didn’t think anyone would come, it was the middle of the night after all. But luckily for him he heard multiple sets of footsteps. And based off the pace they were coming at they were in a hurry.

 

He struggled to sit up and prop himself up against his grave in an attempt to be just a bit more visible. He had no idea who could possibly be running towards a graveyard at this hour, but he would die if someone didn’t help him.

 

And at this point he’d take anyone other than the Joker. No one knows his identity so it wouldn’t be helping Robin, it would be helping some poor kid who had been severely beaten and left at a graveyard. They would probably completely disregard the evidence that he had dug himself out of the grave if it was a normal person.

 

Maybe he had made a lot of noise during his escape. Someone probably heard something and was coming to check if there was a grave robber. Yeah that sounded plausible enough to Jason. And as the footsteps got nearer and nearer he couldn’t help but fantasize that it was Bruce coming to protect his grave.

 

It was a silly delusion, but Jason didn’t care. He had reopened some wounds and was beginning to bleed again. It definitely wasn’t pleasant and Jason did not want to bleed out. He felt the group of people finally reach him and someone knelt beside him. He struggled to open his eyes.

 

The sight that greeted him was not an elated Bruce Wayne but a stoic Talia Al Ghul. He had no idea why she was there, all he knew was that it was wrong. She shouldn’t be there, she shouldn’t have been in the area to know that he had somehow come back to life.

 

He could tell from the grave that it had been at least a year since he was buried. There was no logical reason for Talia to be there. He couldn’t hold his eyes open for long, and soon black began to surround his vision.

 

Talia seemed to be alarmed by something as she began to talk “Jason! Jason you need to stay awake!” But her voice seemed so far away. It grew more and more quiet and garbled. As if he was trying to hear her speak from under water. “Jason… stay…. me…. someone…. medic…” he heard before he was dead to the world.

 

Talia had assembled a team, and they were able to stabilize him for travel. They did what they could to keep him alive before they took him to the Lazarus pit. Talia was on orders from her father to go check on the grave of Jason Todd to see if they could get his body to take with them to the pit.

 

There was the slight chance that they could revive him, despite the fact that it had been a year since he was living. His body would have decomposed by then, but Talia had obeyed her father’s orders anyway.

 

She was surprised to hear what sounded like someone crying out in pain and broke out into a sprint in an attempt to see who was in the graveyard. It would be an understatement to say that she was surprised to see that Jason had somehow managed to not only return to life, but had dug himself out of his own grave.

 

The evidence was all there. His fingers were torn apart and he was breathing heavily. He seemed to be heavily injured and very weak as well. She rushed over to his side to see he was even conscious and was rewarded for her efforts by a flash of brilliant turquoise eyes.

 

He seemed to stare at her in shock for a brief moment before his eyes began to go dull and his breathing began to stutter. In a short moment of panic she allowed emotion to enter her voice as she cried out “Jason! Jason you need to stay awake!”

 

He began to close his eyes as she turned to one of the medics on her team. “Jason needs medical attention. Come on stay with me. Someone get over here and help. Preferably a medic” she called, regaining control over her emotions again.

 

They were able to get to the pit and throw him in with ease as he hadn’t woken up during their travels. Nothing happened for a while and they had begun to doubt that he would survive, but then suddenly a scream of agony filled the air.

 

Out of nowhere a figure rose out of the water with a terrible shriek filled with pain. Then is was over as suddenly as it had begun. The figure - who they now recognized as the body of Jason Todd -  stood tall and began to walk out of the pit.

 

Once he was free he shook his head roughly. Raising his head and flipping the hair out of his eyes he looked up at Talia. His eyes shown a pale lime green, as if the pit itself lived in his eyes. His eyes glowed for a moment before it dissipated and returned to his original eye color.

  
If they held a more greenish tint than blue Talia didn’t say anything. He brushed the remaining hair out of his eyes, revealing that there was two bright white streaks in his bangs. He smirked and in the light of the pit, it looked like a feral snarl. “Well, it took ya long enough” he said in a carefree tone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want I can include a JayDick fluff chapter in between this one and the next. It isn't necessary and it would probably be something short like Jason and Dick coming out to the family, but it isn't necessary to the story.
> 
> Please comment below!


	3. You Can Never Leave the Hunt Behind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've decided against the fluff chapter and I'll postpone it til a lot later in the story. Maybe that's how I'll end it. I just wanted to thank you for reading this and for commenting. It means a lot to me to get feedback on this story.

Jason stayed with Talia for a year. He didn’t have anywhere else to go, and he had had no idea how long it had really been since he had been killed. He stayed to train as well. He had been dead and his muscles had deteriorated, he was not physically fit to fight crime like he wanted too.

 

And while he stayed with Talia and her league of assassins, they were more than happy to educate him on everything. They told him what had happened since he died and he was less than pleased. Apparently the Joker had been placed in Arkham again… and he escaped 2 months later, killing a total of 200 people before he was caught again.

 

Not only that, but only 6 months after he had been replaced. Bruce Wayne had adopted another son - whom he’d been training to take over the company - and Batman had gained a new Robin. It was some rich kid whose parent had been killed recently.

 

He’d had black hair and pretty blue eyes, so of course Bruce came and saved the day. Offering the kid the same life he had given Jason and Dick before him. It was pretty obvious that Batman needed a Robin and that Bruce needed a way to get over his death.

 

He could understand why Bruce had replaced him. It had obviously helped Bruce, but what bothered him about the replacement was the timing. The replacements parents hadn’t died until 2 months before Jason’s miraculous resurrection.

 

But Bruce had been mentoring the kid for months before that. He had been replaced only 6 months after his death for no apparent reason. Even the media had been shocked at how fast Bruce Wayne had appeared to get over the death of his adopted son.

 

This had made him angry and motivated towards revenge. The league had only been too happy to train him to have his revenge on Batman. All they knew was that he was a former Robin. The one that died.

 

They understood his reason, but all they wanted was the Batman dead or out of commission. They knew he had a better chance, so they wanted to make sure he was prepared. That was great and everything, but as soon as he had finished his training and had gotten the gear that he wanted, he hightailed it outta there.

 

There was still the issue of how he actually came back to life. Most people that were involved in his training believed that he had been resurrected by the Lazarus pit alone. He had been comatose when thrown into the pit, so it only made sense.

 

But those who had been there that night knew differently. Jason knew differently. No one just comes back from the dead without help. It didn’t happen naturally and there was always a reason behind the sudden resurrection of someone.

 

As it was, Jason was leaning towards the fact that it was a supernatural being that had brought him back, and he wanted to know why. So once he’d left the league of shadows he journeyed to someone whom he knew would know what to do.

 

He had only visited this man once, but he could never forget how he had been treated as a kid. He had spent a glorious week learning how to play catch and what was the best arcade game. He hadn’t had to think about training or when the next hunt would’ve been. It was amazing, but when john had realized what Bobby had done.

 

There had been hell to pay, and he was told never to go back there again. Jason hoped that Bobby would be able to recognize him even with the Black hair. He had changed, and it had been 8 years since he had last seen him.

 

But right now Bobby was his best shot at finding out what happened and if there was anything wrong with him. So he traveled, staying out  of sight and inconspicuous. A 16 year old boy traveling alone was an odd sight. Especially one traveling across the country. But luck seemed to be on his side and the journey was quick.

 

He made it there in no time, and he couldn’t help but stare as he looked at the old scrap yard. It was just as he remembered it - filled with old rusty cars and spare parts, the only other space in the field filled with old dead grass. It was nice to see something familiar after so long of not seeing anything that even resembled familiar.

 

He grinned as he walked up the steps to go knock on the door. After a moment of silence, the door slowly opened to reveal a weary old man. “Hiyah Bobby!” Jason said happily. He dropped his duffle and opened his arms wide as if asking for a hug.

 

Though under his suave attitude he was really very nervous. How would Bobby react? Would he shoot first ask questions later? Jason didn’t think that he could take another near death experience.

 

A couple bullets and he’d be sunk. Talia and her band of assassins had no idea where he was going. As much knowledge of the supernatural world. He had made sure of it. When they had run across strange deaths they simply put it down to some genetically mutated people.

 

Vampire wannabes and stupid fans that wanted to start something. They completely ignored it, because the common thug kills more people than any supernatural creature does. The league of shadows focused on them, because they are the ones who don’t get punished.

 

The wannabes get discovered and the case is closed. A common thug gets to live his entire life in dark alley ways, killing and taking almost never got the justice that they deserved. That’s why the vigilantes existed.

 

They were there to take out the thugs and the big bads that no one else knew how to fight. He was brought out of his thoughts by Bobby’s voice. “Dean?” he asked softly. He had lowered his gun slightly, but not enough for it not to be a threat. Jason smiled at him and replied with “the one and only!”

 

He was about to take a step forward when he got hit in the face with holy water. Grimacing at the unexpected (but not surprising) attack, he wiped the water out of his eyes. “No Bobby, I’m not a demon.” He pulls out the silver knife that he always kept with him and made a shallow cut on his arm. “And I’m not a shapeshifter or anything of the sort” he finished.

 

Bobby completely lowered his gun and rushed over to hug Jason. Jason laughed for the first time in a while at the man’s enthusiasm. He was quickly welcomed into the house and they went to sit in the living room. “It’s been forever boy!” Bobby said as he went to the kitchen and returned with two beers.

 

Not blinking an eye at the weak alcohol - Jason had drunk much fancier and stronger alcohols at some of Bruce’s parties- he took the offered drink. A simple beer seemed like nothing to him now. He quickly opened it with his teeth and took a swig. It was refreshing to have a simple beer again after so long.

 

He smiled lightly at Bobby before replying “been traveling Bobby, you know how it is!” Bobby laughed a full bellied laugh before opening his own beer in a more dignified manner (with a bottle opener).

 

“Where’s John and Sam? I haven’t seen them in a while” Bobby continued and Jason couldn’t help but stiffen. He tried to relax and took another sip of his drink before replying. “ I haven’t been traveling with them for a long time Bobby” he said casually.

 

He had tried his best not to draw attention to it, but Bobby picked up on his unease quickly. So much for special assassin’s training. “What do you mean?” he asked in a low voice. Before Bobby had had a bright open face, glad to see a boy hunter that he hadn’t seen in years.

 

But now it was as if a shadow had fallen across his visage. His face seemed clouded with concern and a slight bit of anger. Jason couldn’t help but wince slightly at his expression. It had nothing on one of Bruce’s famous scowls or even one of Jason’s own, but it was dark in its own right. And it was such an uncommon expression to see on his face.

 

“Well, we went our separate ways about 7 years back” he replied flippantly, as if it was no big deal, “he took Sam and I made a new life for myself somewhere else” Bobby’s expression seemed to darken even further. Jason could see him mentally calculating how old he was now and how old he was when they went their ‘separate ways’ as he had said.

 

You could practically see the gears turning as he tried to figure it out. He hadn’t seen Jason for a long time, and it was hard to decipher how old he was just based off appearances. After a moment or two Bobby responded, “he just left you when you weren’t even 10 yet?”

 

After getting a slight nod of affirmation from Jason he growled angrily. “How could he just leave you to fend for yourself. You were just a child, you could have been attacked by anything and easily killed off! he yelled angrily.

 

Jason couldn’t help but snort. Even as a 9 year old child he had been skilled in fighting. He definitely wouldn’t have gone down without a fight. “Please, you know I wasn’t defenseless. I was trained to be a hunter.” Jason scoffed.

 

That seemed to only anger Bobby even more. “You shouldn’t have had to either. John should have known better than to leave you on your own! He should have known better than to drag you into the hunting world!” He spat angrily.

 

Jason shuffled his feet nervously. He may or may not have just cost his father a valuable ally by telling him this information. he obviously hadn’t been in contact with John for  while as he had had no idea of Dean’s disappearance.

 

Deciding to file that information away to puzzle over later, he responded to Bobby’s angry accusations. “It’s in the past anyway Bobby, there’s nothing you can do about it. After all you’ve obviously haven’t been in contact with John recently or you would have known” he said offhandedly.

 

Waving a hand in the air in a vague type of gesture he continued, “besides, I’m clearly not dead and I was making it just fine on my own.” The past tense was luckily lost on Bobby. He still seemed angry, but he also looked rather sullen.

 

“So you were living comfortably?” at Jason’s nod he continued sadly “But why didn’t you come to me? You know I would’ve helped you if you had just come to me!” He glared down at his beer and Jason couldn’t help but feel bad.

 

The thought of Bobby honestly hadn’t even crossed his mind when he was thinking on where he could go. He had thought about him a couple years after he became Robin, but he brushed the thought off because he hadn’t wanted to get involved with the hunting world.

 

He probably never would have thought of him again if it hadn’t been for his weird resurrection. If he had even the slightest idea where John could be he probably would have gone to him. He hadn’t met Bobby more than a couple times, and the last one had resulted in a pretty heavy argument between the adults.

 

But he had had no insight on John and Sam’s location so he had decided to go to the only hunter that had a constant location. But that didn’t matter, what mattered was that he was here now. “Ok Bobby, listen. I’m really sorry I didn’t think to go to you, but I just really wanted to get away from the whole hunting thing.”

 

“I had met someone in another city that I knew would take me in so I went there. There’s a long history of absolutely no supernatural activity in over a hundred years! I just wanted a chance at being a normal kid! And luckily I ended up getting adopted by a rather rich person and I made something of myself” he said, all the while never making eye contact.

 

Bobby looked at the young boy - no man - that stood before him. He had changed a lot from the little soldier boy that he had last seen. Not only was his sandy blonde hair dyed pitch black with white streaks, but he was also muscular. And despite the obvious effort that Jason had gone to hide his most intimidating weapons, Bobby could still see the many weapons he hid on his person.

 

He was obviously still a weary person with paranoia that rivaled even the most seasoned hunter (it was all in the posture) he hadn’t even relaxed once since he arrived at Bobby’s salvage yard. It saddened Bobby that despite Jason’s efforts to leave the supernatural world behind, it seemed to have come back to haunt him.

  
“Well, you obviously didn’t come here for a social visit or you would have come a long time ago. What do you need boy?” he asked gruffly in a resigned tone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to comment with any questions, criticism and ideas! Nothing is too mundane to ask about so feel free to leave your opinion below!


	4. Bobby's Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! So I'm sorry that this is literal shit, but ya know I'm trying right? And I'm also really sorry about all the terrible grammar and spelling and how OOC the characters are, but I'm a shit writer anyway.

“Well, you obviously didn’t come here for a social visit or you would have come a long time ago. What do you need boy?”

 

All was still and quiet for a moment before Jason inhaled sharply. Bobby had hit the nail on the head by asking that question. As it was there was no avoiding the story for any longer. Jason had hoped that it might have come out at a better time, as Bobby was already pissed by John abandoning him.

 

Saying that he had died because he had started a new life in the wrong neighborhood was not going to help the situation. He most likely would have had just as many near death experiences if he had stayed a hunter, but to Bobby it would still somehow be John’s fault.

 

Jason sighed as he looked down. He didn’t want to have to tell Bobby any of this, but he needed answers. “My new life has given me… complications” he began carefully, tracking Bobby’s reactions out of the corner of his eye.

 

“I may have been killed on the field and come back to life a year later for no apparent reason.” he said effectively dropping the bomb. Bobby had been in the middle of taking a swig of beer when suddenly he spit out the mouthful of alcohol.

 

“Did you just say your were killed a year ago and came back to life!?!?” Bobby exclaimed shocked. The anger hadn’t caught up yet as he was still in shock, but it was beginning to wear off. Bobby’s entire face began to turn bright red. “You would be dead right now and no one would know?!” he yelled.

 

Jason couldn’t help but grimace as he finished off his drink. “My new life wasn’t exactly the safest. Sure I wanted to be normal, but I chose the wrong city for that. Sure it had no supernatural creatures, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t any monsters there.” he admitted. 

 

“When fighting monsters, you always have the risk of being killed. I just traded the supernatural for the insane. Unfortunately they’re much harder to get rid of than a simple nest of vamps. Definitely not pleasant, and I just happened to draw the short end of the string that day.”

 

He said softly. It was weird talking about his life to someone who knew him as something else. He hadn’t seen a hunter or the supernatural in years, and it showed. He seemed completely uncomfortable in the old hunter’s home. 

 

It was a general rule that hunters didn’t mess with humans. They took care of the supernatural creatures that went bump in the night because no one else knew how to fight them. They left the other monsters to the police. They knew that the police never really were able to control the human monsters, but they had their hands full with the supernatural.

 

“Then I wake up in a coffin out of the blue, and have to did my own may out. It turns out it was a year after I had been buried. That stuff just doesn’t happen and I need to know why I have returned and how I have returned before I can go back” he finished.

 

Turning to stare at Bobby he said “and that’s why I came to you. I need to know if something supernatural is involved in this? Did someone make a deal?” he demanded harshly. A complete 180 from his earlier attitude.

 

He had entered the situation with a cheerful attitude to make Bobby feel at ease. But now he needed answers, and he needed them fast. The league of shadows didn’t have an answer, and he doubted Bruce would care, but if someone made a deal.

 

If somehow John or Sam made a connection between the death of Jason Todd and Dean Winchester, then he would have a problem. There was no one else who knew about him and about a way to get him back. 

 

But there was a major flaw with his logic. How would any of them know to make the connection between Jason Todd and Dean Winchester? He was sure that he had covered his tracks (he did look completely different than how he appeared 7 years before) so no one should have been able to connect him to the hunter world.

 

No one knew his facial features well enough to actually be able to connect the dots other than Bobby, Sam, John and that one psychic Missouri. Missouri had actually looked after them for a long period of time while John worked to get enough gear to become a good hunter.

 

They had stayed with her for a year and it only made sense that she would be insightful enough to be able to make the connection. The face of Jason Todd had been plastered all over the news. 

 

The fact that the billionaire Bruce Wayne had adopted a street kid caught the attention of all the media and it had made it to the nationwide news. Now that he thought about it, Missouri would make a lot of sense. Though she didn’t know him for very long, she had shown that she did care for them.

 

She was also a psychic, and normally Jason would dismiss that, but in this case it helped fit puzzle pieces together. She would be able to know that it was him the second that she saw him. His overall aura may have changed, but at the core he was still the same impulsive little boy she had looked after.

 

She was definitely connected to this somehow. No one else would have a reason to care about the death of a billionaire’s son, and even less people to know or care if Dean Winchester died. As far as John probably knew, Dean was dead. 

 

No ordinary 9 year old, even with hunters training made it in the world. Especially if they were alone. They were more likely to be killed, and there would be no way for John to ever know that he was ok or not. John didn’t care to watch the nationwide news, and he stayed away from Gotham after finding out what type of hell existed there.

 

Bobby never watched the news and most other hunters of whom he had met, looked for their hunts in the newspaper. Sam had most likely forgotten about his existence entirely so hunting down his father and brother would be pointless.

 

Things just had to be really hard for Jason didn’t they. Bobby seemed to have finished mulling over the little information that he was given and began to speak. “I haven’t talked to John in years, and I didn't even know that you had left to live somewhere else. I’ll call John, but I can’t guarantee that it will reach him.” 

 

Rubbing his forehead, Jason began to move around the room to pull an old book from one of Bobby’s shelves. “Well go make the call. Don’t be too specific just say that Dean wants to speak with him” Jason ordered.

 

He wanted to talk to his deadbeat dad himself. He didn’t want to have Bobby get too involved in this. It shouldn’t have even been his problem, but as it was there was no other way. If it turned out to be in the negative, he might have to pay a visit to Missouri after all. 

 

Bobby was surprised at the tone that Jason had adopted and the ease at which he flipped through the old book to the section that he wanted to search through. But despite the shock at just how much Jason had changed he quickly went and grabbed the phone. Jason looked angrier than before, and his once beautiful eyes had turned cold.

 

He had a certain gleam in his eyes that didn’t exactly scream sane, but he seemed well enough in control of his actions that it didn’t worry Bobby all that much. He came back to the room after a couple minutes (John’s contact numbers had been difficult to track down) and proceeded to hand he ringing phone over to Jason.

 

Not even looking up from the book on demons, he simply took the phone and wedged it between his shoulder and his ear so he still had use of his hands. After a couple rings he heard someone pick up, and he was glad that it turned out to be the right number.

 

“Hello this is John Winchester” he heard the rough voice of his father. A voice he hadn’t heard in 7 years. Resisting the urge to praactically spit fire at the man, he settled for responding in a cool indifferent tone. 

 

“Hello John, this is Dean.” he said simply. He heard the sharp intake of breath over the phone before suddenly John was speaking quickly, “Where have you been all these years? Why haven’t you called before? How long have you been at Bobby’s”

 

The questions flew out of his mouth at a non stop speed before Jason decided that he should interrupt him. “Hold up, first of all,  _ you’re  _ the one who left  _ me  _ behind. So I’m sorry if you hadn’t called but I didn’t have a way to contact you! Second of all, this isn’t a social call.” he growled out.

 

He was almost as pissed at John as he was at Bruce. Sure John had abandoned him, but the pain had lessened over the years, so it wasn’t so much of a big deal. If it wasn’t for his troubling resurrection he would already be back in Gotham trying to kill the Joker, if only to prove a point to Batman.

 

Hey technically he was only 15, so he was allowed to act childish about this. He technically didn’t have a childhood so… Anyway focusing on John’s response. His father’s voice had been immediately cut off by the sharp tone that Jason had spoken with.

 

The fact that there was obviously something wrong enough that Jason had called him from Bobby’s was worrying and quickly pushed his fatherly concern to the back of his mind. The father was no longer there and in its place was the hunter.

 

“What is it?” he asked in a low tone, obviously being quieter for some reason. Whether it was in worry or an attempt at being quiet because someone else was there didn’t concern Jason. Jason did not give a flying fuck about his biological father, as far as he was concerned he was dead to him.

 

But he needed the information to make sure he could cross off one possibility. He may hate his father but Sam needed him, and if his father had made a deal, then that would take him from Sam too early. It wouldn’t be fair to his little brother.

 

“Did you or anyone you know make a deal concerning my life?” he asked suddenly with no hesitation. The sooner that this conversation was over the better. All he needed was a yes or no and then he would be on his way. 

 

Whether it be to talk to Missouri or beat the shit out of John still remained to be seen. There was a moment of silence before John began to speak again. “Why would I have to make a deal concerning you?” he asked slowly.

 

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Couldn’t he just give a straight answer? He was wasting daylight. “Just answer the damn question!” he barked in annoyance. He was so not prepared to deal with this shit right now.

 

“No” John said and Jason couldn’t help but let out a breath in relief. Now he didn’t have to worry about that issue, but the Missouri problem still needed to be dealt with. “I didn’t make a deal but do you want to explain to me why I might have?” John demanded in his military voice.

Jason settled for hanging up on him instead of responding. Giving a nod of thanks to Bobby, he pulled out a scrap piece of paper and wrote down a phone number on it. “Here’s a way to contact me if you ever have to. I’m out of the hunting business Bobby. Only call me if the world is ending. I got my own problems to deal with.” He said evenly.

 

He moved to put back the books and gather his things before Bobby stopped him. “Where are you going? The sun will set any moment now, you shouldn’t be traveling on foot around here, especially at this time. You may have not had to deal with the supernatural where you made your life but it’s very much round here”

 

Jason simply smirked before walking to the front door. “I’m a batboy, the night is my domain. Plus, who said I was on foot?” he asked mockingly before leaving the house. Bobby obviously not believing him, walked out of the house getting ready to scold him when he was interrupted by the starting of an engine.

  
Looking out onto the field he was able to see Jason driving away in a bright red convertible that was obviously stolen. So much for a justice fighter. But he was raised as a scamming hunter and he did spend some time on the streets of Gotham. A kid had to make a living right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who had commented! Sorry I didn't respond to everyone but your comments mean a lot to me!
> 
> If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below!


	5. Missouri's Sacrifice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG thank you so much for all of the comments! It truly is amazing! I'm really sorry for the quality of the chapter and how OOC the characters are rn.

Jason smiled to himself as he drove away from Bobby’s house. There was no way that he could resist making that comment when Bobby had given him the perfect opportunity. To be fair, he hadn’t had a method of transportation when he left the league of shadows.

 

It was the only logical move, so he stole a car from some unsuspecting rich person. He probably needed it more than the original owner, and hey, if he’s going to steal a ride it might as well be stylish.

 

He had learned long ago how to hot wire a car so that was no issue. And simply putting on a different license plate solved all other problems. He had pirated that from someone a couple states over. No big deal and it was an abandoned car too, so no one would be looking for the license plate.

 

He smirked and turned the radio up. The extra effort was so worth it though. He would be laughing at Bobby’s face for the next couple of days at least. He sang loudly along with the radio, he had a long drive ahead of him and he might as well not make it completely miserable.

 

It was a relatively relaxing journey. He had been yelled at by someone because he had been singing loudly to the already loud music, and of course his response was to turn it up louder and scream at the top of his lungs. That didn’t go over well.

 

He also discovered just how bad his road rage could get while traveling through a big city. He also discovered that his actually wasn’t the worst out there. He was actually appalled at the language that some soccer moms used.

 

And the sets of lungs on some of them, damn. Other than that he didn’t have any other problems and actually made it in good time. He parked the convertible on the side of the road before getting out.

 

He had parked in front of a modest little home. It had a beautiful garden and it was brightly coloured. All in all a cute little house fitting for a wise old lady. There was also spiritual symbols placed strategically around the house to be out of sight.

 

No one who didn’t know what to look for would even know that they were there to begin with. It was easy to just overlook a symbol made in the dirt or a wind chime with a glyph in it. She was a well known psychic after all, so even if someone questioned it, it wouldn’t matter.

 

Looking at the surrounding neighbourhood he felt even more out of pace than before. The entire neighbourhood was the typical suburban neighbourhood. With similar houses all average sized. White picket fences and everything.

 

It was the typical American area with the charming children to match. There was actually a couple children around the age of 10 just running around and playing. Jason could even hear their carefree laughter from where he was standing.

 

It was times like this that he felt even more out of place with his leather jacket and weapons. Shaking the thought out of his head, he moved up the path so that he could go knock on the door. Hesitantly he knocked lightly, not expecting an answer.

 

It had been a long time since he’d last seen Missouri, and he wasn’t even sure that he even got the address right. But the house did scream psychic person, or at least crazy hippie. There was a 90% chance he got it right, but with his luck, it was more likely that it was wrong.

 

But it seemed to be a good day for him, despite the fact that he hadn’t gotten any sleep because he drove through the night. In hindsight that might not have been the best decision. He was not in the right frame of mind to be dealing with this.

 

He was still having flashbacks at least every other day about his death, so he hadn’t had a full night's sleep in forever. Surviving off 3 hours of sleep with the life he was leading probably wasn’t all that smart, but he didn’t see much of a point in sleep nowadays.

 

He waited for about 15 minutes before knocking again, this time he heard someone rushing towards the door. Only a moment later the door was opened to reveal a slightly disheveled Missouri.

 

“Now what’s a boy like you doin’ knocking on my door at this hour?” she asked in an irritated tone. Jason was surprised, she looked exactly how he remembered her. Smiling inwardly he opened his arms and did a sweeping bow. ‘Why Missouri, don’t you remember me?”

 

She stared at him for a moment before her eyes suddenly widened. “Dean?” she asked in surprise. “Or do you prefer Jason now Mr. Wayne?” she smirked and moved aside as if to invite him in. He bowed his head and went inside the door.

 

Her response had just confirmed his suspicions, she did know that it was him. “I prefer Jason, but I’d appreciate it if no one else knew of my… current situation” he said as he walked past her into the house.

 

She smiled knowingly and lead him into the kitchen. After a couple minutes she sat with him at the table and handed him a cup of tea. “So what brings you here Jason?” she asked calmly, her eyes not betraying any emotion other than amusement.

 

“Well since you know of my… status as a Wayne, then I assume you know of the… other side of that life” Jason began taking a sip of the tea. He was surprised to find that it tasted just as good as he remembered Alfred’s being.

 

Taking a bigger sip of the calming liquid he looked over the rim of the teacup at the psychic sitting across from him. Her eyes twinkled with mischief as she smiled innocently up at him. “What type of psychic would I be if I didn’t look into the famous Gotham vigilantes?” she asked.

 

Putting down the teacup he leaned forward slightly. She seemed to sense that his next question would be serious and her expression darkened slightly. “You’re aware that I died on the field, right?” he asked seriously.

 

There was no time for tip toeing around the issue, he had to get straight to the point. This was serious, and her answer would change how this entire conversation went. She seemed saddened by his question, but not surprised.

 

She looked at him with old tired eyes. “I’m aware” she said softly. She looked at him as if willing him to drop the subject but knowing that he wouldn’t. He didn’t want to have to continue the conversation either.

 

With Bobby it had been easier, because he hadn’t known anything, so casually dropping the whole ‘I was killed and I need to know what brought me back’ thing was a bit easier. He was too shell shocked by both his appearance and that statement to be able to fully comprehend it in the few short hours that Jason spent there.

 

But Missouri stared at him with those sad tired eyes. Knowing exactly why he’d come all along. And knowing the answer to his questions, but also knowing that the answers would not please him. It was so much harder to look her in the eyes, when it was obvious that she could look at him and see every single fault.

 

“You know how I came back… I need to know how and why I came back” he continued. She seemed to deflate slightly before answering. “Your suspicions are correct, Jason. A deal was made to bring you back to life.” she said in a resigned tone.

 

At his imploring look she continued, though very unwillingly. “I… made the deal” Jason couldn’t believe his ears. Sure, he had suspected that she was somehow involved. But the voice of reason (that sounded suspiciously like Bruce) said that she wouldn’t have a reason too.

 

They had met only a couple times when he was a child, and she knew better than most that everyone had a time when they needed to die. His death had been unjust, but fate had never smiled on him before. So this time was no different.

 

His face must have shown his thoughts as she smiled at him sadly. She obviously knew what he was thinking and her next statement proved it. “You’re wondering what would make me sacrifice my after life for you. A little boy that I hadn’t seen in person in over 8 years.”

  


“I have lived a long enough life. I have accomplished what has been set out for me, there’s nothing much left for me. I still get 10 years to make a difference, though I don’t know what else I could really do.” she took a breath, as if sensing that he would interrupt she held up a finger to stop him.

 

“You have a very important destiny to fulfill. You’re life is about so much more than just you. You were created for a purpose, your parents probably wouldn’t have even met if it weren’t for the angels. They chose you Jason, and they didn’t want you dead, but they couldn’t even interfere, so they told me what to do.” she explained.

 

Jason couldn’t believe it. She had believed the word of some ‘angel’. An angel that seemed to think that he was important for something. Angels didn’t even exist, so what had manipulated Missouri into believing that Jason was needed for something?

 

For what purpose (other than to give Batman hell) is there for someone to want Jason? “How do you even know that these people were angels? And why would they want a broken Robin?” he asked urgently.

 

Missouri looked at him sadly “You don’t have much faith do you boy” she said. He deadpanned at her and she rolled her eyes. “Well, they were glowing entities and I only got a glimpse of their wings before my eyes started to burn. I quickly looked away, because I need my sight.”

 

Jason looked at her pointedly “that still doesn’t prove that they’re angels. They could be any glowing winged creature” he argued. “But let’s just say they are angels. What the hell would they need me for?”

 

She seemed to think about it for a moment. As if trying to recall if she had even been told a reason. This worried Jason even more than before. If this woman had just sacrificed her soul for him without even knowing the exact reason, then he would just have to hunt down these ‘angels’.

 

“You will be needed for a big fight in the next 8 years. But you need the time now to gain skills and allies. You will know when you are needed.” She confesses, “I know what the battle will be for, rest assured. But I cannot tell you, as it is not your time to learn of these things yet.”

 

Grimacing at that type of answer, he placed his head in his hands. “But why would you give up your soul for me? I’m a killer and you know it. I’ll be of no good to any angels if they have moral code about killing people.” he said.

 

There was no point in hiding it. He knew that he was guilty of murder, but isn’t it better to get rid of a problem before it takes more lives? What is one life compared to the thousands you could save?

 

There was also no point in denying the existence of angels at this point. Missouri obviously believed in the angels (and in him, though he didn’t want to admit it) enough to be completely willing to make the deal. “Why did you have to do it? I’m sure they have a bunch of other people who could have made the deal.” he continued.

 

She finished her tea and placed her own cup down on the table. “I agreed because, I have seen what you are capable of. Sure you’re a killer, but aren’t all hunters? It’s how you were raised, you’re just cleaning up a different type of monster now.” she tells him.

 

“I believe that you will be able to stop the… fight that will happen in the future. Your role will be very important. But that’s not the entire reason why either.” she admitted softly. She reached out to touch his hand as she continued to speak.

 

“You’re just a child. You have been raised in the hunting world, and then that of the streets - of Gotham no less, and finally the life of a vigilante. None of these things should have been your life, and you were killed because of it. It wasn’t fair to you. You should have had a future.”

 

She smiled kindly at him before standing up and taking the teacups to put them in the sink. “I wanted to give you the chance to have that future.” she finished. Jason felt overwhelmed. Never before had he had someone care for him that deeply.

 

Sure he had Bruce, but Jason was still unsure as to whether he would be willing to go so far as sacrifice his soul. He was the wayward son, the imperfect street rat. Bruce would probably do it in a heartbeat for Dick, but if he’d do it for Jason remained a mystery.

 

The fact that Missouri was willing to go so far for his future was really touching. Any parent would be greatly saddened if a child’s life had been cut short, but they wouldn’t go this far for just any child.

  
He quickly rose and enveloped her in a hug, crushing her small frame to his. He burrowed his nose in her hair. “Thank you” he mumbled into her hair. She simply patted his back softly until he reached her. “Don’t worry about it Jason. Now why don’t you stay the night! It looks like you haven’t had a good night’s sleep in ages” she cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns feel free to comment below!


	6. Moving Forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is trash.

Jason spent a total of 3 days at Missouri’s before leaving. He spent the entire time just catching up with her, and making sure that she was both happy, and set for the next 10 years. He owed her that much.

 

She also helped him brush up on his hunting knowledge. He had forgotten a lot in his time hunting the human monsters. He had forgotten, but he was a fast learner and he was determined. He wanted the skills, he wanted to be able to know how to fight the supernatural fight when it came.

 

He knew it would, Missouri had seen something, been told something would happen that was so bad that she was driven to make a deal. To take such drastic actions. Because she had made such a sacrifice, he was honor bound to try his best to be able to combat this thing that is coming.

 

It wouldn’t be the normal things he was dealing with either. There wouldn’t be human monsters in this fight, only the monsters that haunted his childhood. His dreams may no longer be haunted by vampires and wendigos. But he would never forget how terrifying the hunt is.

 

He knows that this will be just as difficult as if he was fighting anyone from Gotham. It might even be harder, because they won’t be predictable. He has no idea what these angels will be like, or what they’ll be after. 

 

He doesn’t know what godly powers they possess or what ace-in-the-whole they have planned. He might even be it, but he is still completely in the dark on just about everything. He stressed about what he was supposed to do.

 

But Missouri quickly shut down that train of thought. She had agreed to help him brush up on his knowledge, but then she had warned him that what she saw wouldn’t be happening for years. He had time. Time that he could do whatever he felt he needed to, before he would have to leave his life as Jason Todd behind, to come back as Dean Winchester.

 

But… that was still roughly 10 years away. Missouri had been told that she wouldn’t be there for the fight. She took that time to heart, and Jason trusted her word. He owed her that much. So he turned his focus to more… personal goals.

 

He left Missouri’s as soon as he realized what he wanted to do next. She may know of his darkness, but he couldn’t stand to see her disappointment on her face. But without her there to smack him in the head with her silly wooden spoon, he would be able to do what he needed to be done.

 

Sure he understood that Batman needed a Robin and that Bruce needed to move on. That’s great and all, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. It doesn’t erase the fact that 6 months after his death, he was forgotten and replaced.

 

The replacement was great too. Highly skilled and well raised. The perfect little soldier that Batman always wanted. Jason couldn’t hate the kid, technically it wasn’t his fault. He blamed Bruce for forgetting him. But he also blamed himself.

 

He knows his shortcomings, but he still can’t help but wonder, which one of them was the one that turned Bruce’s love for him sour. What did he do to make Bruce realize that he wasn’t enough. That he wasn’t worth it.

 

Because no matter what Dick had done, Batman still loved him and would do anything for him. Jason had  _ died  _ and yet, all he could do was throw him in Arkham just like every single other time he’d ever escaped.

 

Apparently Robin’s death meant exactly the same as any other persons. No matter how hard Jason had tried, no matter how much he’d done, he’d never been good enough. Never as perfect as Dick. Even Tim was better than he was apparently.

 

He wasn’t remembered as a brave child who had fought for justice and had died an unfair death. No he was the caution story, used to warn young heroes of what a single misstep can cause.

 

He was the hero who made a mistake and payed the price for it. Sure they mourned his death, but not because they knew him as a person. He was just another vigilante dead. It happened. But they turned his death into a lesson. 

 

But that warning didn't seem to be enough. There was still children becoming heroes and there were still children being killed. And most of the younger heroes were being targeted by everyone's favorite villain; the Joker. 

 

That's probably the biggest problem that Jason has with Bruce. Being replaced hurts, but Jason was a strong kid, who was used to the pain of being forgotten and left behind. 

 

No, what angered Jason is that the Joker was still killing children. Killing in general was one thing, indirectly killing children and families was very bad. But directly targeting children was where the line should have been drawn. 

 

The police force kill people all the time, be they innocent or not. But they're still seen as the good guys. Gotham’s police are especially bad with the shoot first ask questions later thing. 

 

But the Bat couldn't find it in himself to be able to kill. He claims it would bring him down to their level, he isn't wrong. But isn't that sacrifice worth it to potentially save so many lives?

 

To send a permanent message that Gotham isn't to be messed with, would solve so many problems. The more people Batman throws into Arkham the bigger a threat they become. Arkham is in no way a good place to try and rehabilitate people. 

 

Let alone major villains who have escaped time and time again just to kill more and more people. Batman could have ended it so long ago. But he chose not to, and look where it has gotten him. 

 

Sure the villains fear him, but they don't  _ fear _ him. They know that no matter how horrible their crime may be, the Bat will never kill them. They will live to kill another day, all they’d have to do was escape a mental hospital with terrible security and corrupt workers. 

 

It was in no way a hard task. Especially if one had powerful connections, like the major villains of Gotham did. These villains were not people to mess with, and the ordinary vigilante wouldn't be able to handle them. 

 

That's why Batman originally had sidekicks. They were there to handle everything that he couldn't. The extra surveillance and research cut down on time and allowed them to become more efficient. The numbers also allowed them to cover more area. 

 

But Jason was just one person. He wouldn't be able to be as high tech or as far outstretched as the Bat clan was. But that was ok. He wasn't aiming to take over the top vigilante spot. 

 

He knew that that wouldn't really work. Before he was a rich vigilante’s sidekick, he had been a street rat. He knew Gotham’s underworld very well. He knew most of the dealers by name, and had at least had 1 run in with the major drug players before he even became Robin. 

 

He was a street kid, lived in crime alley and everything. He survived pretty well on his own too. He knew that unless you were willing to kill, to get the job done , then it wouldn't work. But the second that you kill someone in cold blood, you are no longer a hero. 

 

Jason could kill. He would be able to get the job done, but no one would ever thank him for it like they thanked Batman. The police would hunt him and he would be labelled as just another villain. But as long as no one innocent got hurt, Jason could live with that. 

 

So he set out and began to make deals with the different drug lords and the other leaders of crime. They could still sell, just never to children. And anyone they recruit better be over 18 or they'd have hell to pay. 

 

They gave him 40% and he’d protect them and their men from the Black Mask. Black Mask was someone Jason had despised even as a street rat. As Robin, he had learned just how bad his crimes were, and Jason was not in anyway pleased. 

 

He quickly got rid of the Black Mask and made sure that his goons wouldn't be a problem. He controlled Gotham's underworld using the name Red Hood. To pay tribute to the psychopath who created him. 

 

But the crime rate had lowered considerably since he’d arrived at Gotham again. But there was still the occasional thug that hadn't heard of the Red Hood. 

 

He went after anyone who endangered innocents. Killing thugs and rapists, and helping the children who needed to provide for their families. He made sure that anyone who allied themselves with him and followed his rules was protected. 

 

He was 19 years old now, and the new ruler of the underground. He kept them firmly in check and made sure that the big bads didn't have access to any henchmen. Because he helped the different gangs in Gotham, they occasionally gave him information. 

 

He had a couple hookers that helped him get information from the particularly tight lipped ones. They liked the extra money and it wasn't much different from their jobs anyway. On top of that, Jason made sure that they got home safely, and he took care of any of the bad customers. 

 

Most of the underground held a high respect for the Red Hood, though not everyone believed that he was good. He did kill people - quite frequently too - so the police were always on his ass. Trying to get him, claiming he was a villain mastermind set on seeing the city burn. But even they couldn't deny that the streets of Gotham were the safest they'd ever been. 

 

But in the couple of years that the Red Hood had been operating in Gotham, he'd only seen Batman a couple times. That had been when Two Face, Scarecrow and Bane had escaped. 

 

Jason had been trying to track down Two Face before he could cause anymore damage when he ran into the Bat. They had ended up working together briefly in the final fight, but once Two Face was in custody he booked it. 

 

He didn't want to draw that much attention to himself then. He hadn't had that stable of a foothold in the underworld then.

 

He had been in the process of checking up on some of his orphans when he saw the Bat the second time. He had created a safe house that the orphans of crime alley were free to use. He restocked the house every week. And came to visit as the Red Hood just to chat with them. It was an attempt at getting them to stay out of trouble. 

 

The Bat had been looking for him apparently, and had tracked him to the safe house. He had dropped from the window in a very dramatic way, effectively scaring his kids. After telling them that he'd be back he left with Batman. 

 

Batman had proceeded to tell him that Scarecrow was on the move and that he needed some info. Jason had of course followed through, but not without some witty banter. He was careful. They hadn't spent more than an hour together throughout the entire debacle. 

 

And the third time was when Bane had been beating the shit out of Batman on Red Hood’s turf. Jason simply couldn't have that and took care of the problem. He had left Batman with the broken - but still breathing - body of Bane. Needless to say Batman had been displeased. 

 

He hasn't seen him since. But word on the street is that Batman wants to know who the new crime lord is. Jason wasn't planning on having another confrontation with Batman. He was still angry at him, but getting upset at Batman wouldn't fix anything. 

  
No to do that he would have to kill the Joker. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading my stories! If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to comment below!


	7. Dick is an Ass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo finally getting into something close to the actual plot of the story! There is just so much goddamned backstory that needs to be explained before plot can actually happen.
> 
> Please bear with me!!!

Roughly 3 years in Gotham and Jason was 19 years old. He had successfully lowered the crime rate his way, and succeeded in pissing off Batman if the amount of times he gets chased on patrols is anything to go by.

 

3 years, and the Joker hadn’t escaped once. It was weird and it was suspicious. Most of the other big bads hadn’t left Arkham either, and it was beginning to freak Jason out. He kept expecting them to just randomly appear. But so far they haven’t.

 

Batman was getting antsy too. He had been unable to stop any big crime in over a year. There hadn’t been an escape in a little over a year, and since the crime rate was down farther than it has ever been, Batman has been uselessly patrolling the streets.

 

Batman, Robin and Nightwing, all with nothing to do other than spend a couple hours patrolling relatively clean streets was dangerous. they had time to  actually care about the Red Hood’s situation. They had the time and the resources as of now, to actually try and find out who he was.

 

They hadn’t cared much at first, but once he had become a major player - whose true side was unknown - they started to pay much closer attention to him. When he was on the streets he was being tailed by someone, and if he stopped or was trying to plan something, someone from the Batclan picked a fight with him.

 

It was getting annoying, but so far he had been lucky enough that no one had been able to get close enough to remove his helmet yet, but there had been a lot of close calls. It was beginning to become increasingly dangerous for Jason to be out.

 

With no one else out, the Batclan was slowly closing in on him. Ever since the last incident with Bane, Batman seemed determined to find out who was under the mask. Jason had been sure to use a voice manipulator, but he couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t enough. He was extra careful during patrol, but that didn’t stop confrontations from happening.

  


He ran across one of the many beaten down rooftops in crime alley. Checking every now and then one of the alleyways in between the buildings. Everything was quiet and it looked like it was going to be a calm enough night. He had only had to stop one attempt of assault and after that the streets had been pretty much clean.

 

He should have known better than to make assumptions so soon, as fate seemed determined to fuck with him. Not even a minute after he thought it would be a quiet night, his peaceful patrol was interrupted by the most annoying of the Batclan.

 

Dick stood on one of the rooftops in his skin tight spandex just beaming at him. “Well if it isn’t everyone’s favourite anti-hero, Red Hood” he said in a bright tone. It was almost mocking, but Dick was smiling way too brightly for it to have the full effect.

 

Don’t get Jason wrong, every member of the Batclan was a thorn in his side, but Dick was the worst. Batman just wanted a physical fight, and Jason often left those encounters heavily bruised, and depending on the Bat’s mood, broken bones.

 

His replacement was equally annoying but for a completely different reason. His fighting style was more evade and question compared to Bruce’s ‘hit him until he answers’ tactic. Tim was easy enough for Jason to handle, but his endless personal and stupid questions just pissed him off.

 

But Dick, Dick was the worst. He was an awful combination between Tim and Bruce. He was the hand to hand style fighter, but he also favoured long distance attacks. He was in no way completely silent like Bruce was.

 

He talked even more than the replacement did. It was a terrible combination between interrogation and flirting. Dick had decided that Jason had a nice ass, and that it’d be a brilliant idea to point that out mid fight.

 

Jason had not in any way been expecting Dick to _flirt_ with him. It was absurd, but it worked and Dick had been able to gain the upper hand in the fight. That was the closest someone had gotten to unmasking him so far, and he wanted it to remain that way.

 

But since that tactic had seemed to work on Jason, Dick had proceeded to flirt with him in _every single encounter_. It didn’t matter who else was there to witness it, he continued to use cheesy pickup lines and compliment his ass. It was getting ridiculous.

 

But Jason couldn’t help but feel embarrassed every time it happened. He glowered at Dick from behind his mask. “Get out of the way Nightwing” he growled. He had been having such a good patrol until he showed up. His good mood was effectively ruined.

 

“Ah don’t be such a downer Hood! Don’t you just love to see me?” he asked playfully as he began to walk closer to Jason’s side of the roof. Jason took a defensive stance and put a hand to the gun in the holster on his hip.

 

Dick took a couple more steps towards Jason and he pulled out the gun. “Woah there! Don’t go all trigger happy on me now” Dick said as he put his hands up. He grinned mockingly at him. “What’s the matter Hood? Something got your tongue? Your usually way more talkative than this.” he said.

 

Jason grumbled under his breath about stupid birds and stupid bats. “I was having a good night, and then you showed up” he grumbled. He was definitely not in the mood to deal with Nightwing. “Just step aside Big Bird, I got stuff to do and you’re interfering with it.” he ordered.

 

Dick merely raised an eyebrow before lowering his hands and placing them on his hips in a defiant stance. “But we were just having a lovely conversation! Why would you want me to leave now?” He smiled his award winning smile that always got the ladies smiling at him.

 

Jason couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Couldn’t Dick be serious for once in his life? Why did everything have to be a joke to him? Jason put away the pistol to trade it for a grappling gun and launched off the roof the way he’d come.

 

He could leave the Bats to clean up the rest of the city for the night. He was done with it for the night. For a minute he thought that maybe, just maybe dick would leave him alone, but his life could never be that easy. Once he’d made it to another building he heard the tell tale running steps of someone planning on making a jump.

 

And then there was a thump as Dick landed on the other building. He just wouldn’t give up would he?

 

* * *

 

Dick was having a rather good night. There hadn’t been any one he had had to deal with on patrol, and batman wasn’t as ‘I-am-the-night’ as usual. It was actually kind of nice. He had been sent to patrol the east side, despite the fact that Batman knew there wouldn’t be much activity anymore.

 

The mysterious Red Hood had made sure of that. The east side was the Red Hood’s territory, so Bruce probably just wanted Dick to try his luck at finding out more about the new vigilante/crime lord.

 

He had just shown up one day out of the blue 3 years ago. He hadn’t caused them much trouble, but he was quickly taking over Gotham’s underworld. It was almost overnight, but one minute 8 of Gotham’s top drug lords were suddenly working for him instead if the Black Mask.

 

But Bruce hadn’t been too concerned with him, as he was still a new player, and hadn’t caused much trouble.But then he started getting bolder. He started taking out the big crime lords that hadn’t allied themselves with him.

 

In only a year, he had taken out almost all of Gotham’s major mainstream crime. Sure crime still happened, but now it was done much more discretely, and almost all of it was heavily organized. Each transaction was made during the daytime in organized meeting places.

 

They were very careful, and Batman only caught the real stupid ones and the newbies as of late. Because of the new player in the game, the usual super villains hadn’t been very active. It’s like they’ve been waiting to see what this new player would do.

 

Would he turn out to be a simple crime lord like the Black Mask? Would he be a big time villain like Two Face? Or would he turn out to be a hero vigilante like the Bat. Bruce didn’t much care for him, immediately assuming that he had to be taken down, because he killed people.

 

They weren’t innocents, they were drug lords and rapists and thugs. No one that anyone would ever miss, but Bruce didn’t care. To him, the loss of life, be it any life, was terrible, and that killing was a sin.

 

He ordered that the Red Hood needed to be taken down, because he had killed and not done justice in the way of the Bat. He killed on purpose and he killed without mercy. In the Bat’s books that was wrong.

 

And that’s why Dick and Tim were sent out to this area. Batman had tried his luck with finding out who he was, but he had never been able to get close enough to his head to be able to remove the helmet. Tim was the best at finding out information, so he had tried.

 

But he just seemed to piss off the Red Hood, and he didn’t learn anything that could help them find him. Surprisingly enough, Dick happened to be the most successful. He was the one who pissed him off so much that he slipped up and accidentally let them know something.

 

They’d found out that he knows quite a bit about them, though he hasn’t told them if he knows their real names or not. It made Bruce nervous, so Dick was sent to gauge whether he knew or not. He eventually settled down on one of the rooftops to wait.

 

Luckily he didn’t have to wait long, and soon the Red Hood was visible, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Dick made sure to step out just as the Red Hood landed on his building. “Well if it isn’t everyone’s favourite anti-hero, Red Hood” he said cheerfully. Beaming at the bemused look that the Red Hood somehow managed to convey despite the lack of facial features.

 

“Get out of the way Nightwing” he growled at him, getting into a defensive stance. Dick ignored it and began to walk forward, “Ah don’t be such a downer Hood! Don’t you just love to see me?” he continued to grin. The Red Hood always seemed to be annoyed by his cheerfulness.

 

It was something that made him different from the rest of the Bats. He was the only one who wasn’t doom and gloom and all ‘I am the night’. Dick had intended for this to be a friendly chat, maybe the Red Hood would have a pleasant conversation with him, but it didn’t turn out that way.

 

His already stiff stance had only gone stiffer and he had placed his hand on the gun on his hip. Dick took a couple more steps to test the waters and was rewarded with the drawing of a pistol. Just great, that was exactly what he needed.

 

“Woah there! Don’t go all trigger happy on me now” He said while grinning mockingly “What’s the matter Hood? Something got your tongue? Your usually way more talkative than this.” Jason began to grumble under his breath. Something about stupid bats, and stupid birds. Go figure, he had already adopted the villains way of addressing them. And Dick had been looking forward to someone outside of the Batclan to partner up with.

 

“I was having a good night, and then you showed up” he grumbled. He seemed more irritated than usual. Dick couldn’t understand why, it had been a quiet night. “Just step aside Big Bird, I got stuff to do and you’re interfering with it.” he ordered.

 

Dick raised an eyebrow at him questioningly, before lowering his hands and placing them on his hips in a defiant stance. “But we were just having a lovely conversation! Why would you want me to leave now?” He smiled his award winning smile that always got the ladies smiling at him. If the Red Hood swung that way than great. It would probably stun him.

 

If he didn’t, well it was so bright that even the Bat was irritated by it somedays. When he has a hangover, he prefers to go outside with the sun than have to face one of Nightwing’s smiles. Jason seemed to be having none of it though, and chose to swing to another rooftop in the direction he had come from.

 

Oh he wasn’t getting away so easily this time! Dick was determined to get some form of information about him. So he took a couple steps back, and began to run towards the edge of the building. He executed a perfect flip and landed on his feet on the other building. He chased the Red Hood through Gotham, laughing in glee as he got closer and closer to his prey.

 

The thrill of the chase was something the former Robin lived for, and it had been quiet in Gotham lately. After a while, Red Hood stopped and turned to face Dick once more. “Why won’t you just leave me alone?!” he half yelled in annoyance. Dick couldn’t help but wonder, what he looks like when he was annoyed. Did his face do the cute little scrunch thing that Tim’s did?

 

“Awwww! But you’re just so mysterious! I want to know who you are!” he giggled playfully. There was no point in lying to the new vigilante. He may be trained by the Bat himself, but he was still a bad liar, and Red Hood would probably see through it anyway.

 

“Gods, you’re so annoying Dickiebird!” the Red Hood said exasperatedly, and Dick couldn’t help but freeze.

  
“What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews! I am very thankful that you've taken the time to read my story, and that you actually enjoy it!
> 
> If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment below!


	8. Jason Fucked Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your lovely comments! I really enjoy reading what you have to say about my stories!!!

“Gods, you’re so annoying Dickiebird!” Jason exclaimed exasperatedly. Then he realized what he said. Shit. He’d just let slip a very vital piece of information. If he thought that the Batfamily was obsessed with finding out who he was before, then now that he had given them even the slightest hint that he actually knew their secret identities, they would be even more determined to find out who he was.

 

He saw Dick tense up as he heard the old nickname. He hadn’t been close with Dick before his death, but they had had a couple conversations. Enough for them to establish their share of nicknames. He had been Dick’s Little Wing, and Dick had been his Dickiebird.

 

They weren’t perfect but they had been working on having a better relationship despite what Bruce was going through. He had been angry at Dick and hadn’t wanted to work out his problems. Dick had been angry that Bruce had a new Robin.

 

But Jason was so different from him that it was ok. Dick helped him every now and then, and he had listened to his rants about how he could never be good enough for Bruce. They had been working on their relationship and had been getting closer when Jason died.

 

“What?” he heard Dick breathe in disbelief. He himself couldn’t help but mirror Dick’s reaction. Dick seemed to be frozen in shock. It was the perfect opportunity for him to run, and he took the chance. He knew that if he stayed he’d probably slip up again.

 

He’d have to be even more careful on patrols from now on. He couldn’t make the same mistake around Batman. It had been hard enough the first time, but if he made the mistake around the detective he’d be discovered in a heartbeat.

 

If Dick chose to reveal what he’d said, then he was probably screwed. It’s not like Bruce would believe him right away, but there is a high high chance that he would at least hunt him down a bit more forcefully than before.

 

Goddammit.

 

* * *

 

Dick was frozen in place. He barely realized it when the Red Hood made a run for it. He didn’t even bother to go after him. There wouldn’t be a point anyway. He’d just avoid him. As it was Dick doubted he’d be seeing him this month at all.

 

Dickiebird. That’s a name only a few had known. It wasn’t very nice of a nickname, but it meant something to Dick. It was the nickname his first little brother had given him. His  _ dead  _ little brother. But there was no way that the Red Hood could possibly be his little brother.

 

It just didn’t make sense. He was dead. There was no doubt about it, Dick may have missed the funeral, but he had seen the grave. He had seen the footage of the incident. His little brother was dead, there was no way around it.

 

But no one else knew that nickname. Jason had never had the chance to say it around Bruce or Alfred. Jason hadn’t made any friends after he was adopted by Bruce. He had chosen to focus on being Robin and succeeding in school instead.

 

The other children had shunned him, and he was doing his best to be just as good as Dick. Dick had grown to care for Jason greatly, and Jason had been learning to return that affection when he was killed.

 

Plus, Jason may have been an angry spirited and violent Robin, but he would never just go about killing people. And he hated criminals with a burning passion. There’s no way that he would ever become an anti-hero, much less the kingpin of crime. It just wasn’t how he was.

 

But if the Red Hood wasn’t Jason (and there was no way he was, it made Dick cringe just thinking about it) then that left them with another problem. How did the Red Hood know Nightwing’s real name?

 

He should have had no reason to dig into Nightwing’s past, let alone find out his real identity. The big problem with that was that Dick’s identity was directly connected to that of Bruce Wayne. If he knew who Dick was, then who’s to say he doesn’t know that Bruce is Batman.

 

If the big baddies ever get out again - and they will - then they would literally kill for that information. The Red Hood was not in any way in need of money, but people would pay a pretty big price to get the secret identity of Gotham’s oldest vigilante.

 

The GCPD had been looking for the dark knight since he had first began to roam the streets of Gotham, long before there was ever a Robin. The effort had only increased after Robin had been introduced as an official sidekick.

 

They simply couldn’t fathom who would let a child fight crime, let alone people who were insane like the Joker. They had only been proved right when the news that the second Robin had been killed while working on a mission. It had thoroughly horrified reporters and citizens of Gotham alike.

 

Most Gothamites had grown attached to their dark knight and his fantastic boy wonder, and they were horrified at the death of one of the heroes. No one questioned why Batman had become more violent after that.

 

Even the police had been more forward with the Joker after. They made a slightly better effort to protect the city. It was proven that the infamous vigilante duo was not invincible, and that they too had to bow before death.

 

But then Tim had shown up, in a new and improved Robin uniform, with a completely different fighting style. Gone was the carefree Robin who verbally sparred with the bad guys and did acrobatic feats just because he could.

 

Tim was a serious Robin who took the job very seriously, and dealt with the criminals in an efficient way. He rarely spoke other than to report to Batman, and there was a time that the children who looked up to Robin mourned the loss of the bright boy wonder.

 

But they were soon won over by Nightwing’s charm and the skill of the new Robin. The city moved on and everything had been ok. But the police efforts to take down Batman, or at least expose his true identity hadn’t ceased in the slightest.

 

Only Gordon’s word protected the entire Bat brood now a days. And for many that wasn’t anywhere near enough. A lot of police officers believed he needed to be taken down, that Gotham didn’t need the dark knight anymore. They believed that the police were enough.

 

They were enough in every single other city, but Gotham had many villains that were way over the police forces skill level. But many lived in denial, blinded by their hatred for the Bat and his team.

 

Then the Red Hood appeared, and he was actually wanted just as much as Batman was. But if he was giving them information on what was widely known as his rival, how could they ever say no? The Red Hood wasn’t openly hostile to them, he even helped them when he had too. 

 

But he was in no way an ally. Bruce suspected that as soon as he gained information that he wanted, then he would turn on them. He wished to avoid the Red Hood at all costs, but now it seemed that they wouldn’t be able to. 

 

They had to find out how much he knows, and either take him out or find a way to keep him quiet about the whole deal depending on how much he knew. Dick worked as a police officer with the GCPD. 

 

If they ever found out that he was a masked vigilante that had been interfering with their work for years, there would be hell to pay. The backlash from both the media and the police force would forever wreck Wayne Enterprises and Batman.

Dick broke out of his reverie and began to run back towards the cave. He needed to tell Bruce and Tim as soon as possible. Dick had never been a planner, preferring to improvise on the spot rather than make extensive plans. He would definitely need help from the detective duo if he wanted to find a way to move forward.

 

His cover had been compromised. And theirs might be as well, he couldn’t just keep quiet no matter how tempting the idea was. It would be so easy to forget it ever happened, but Dick knew that it would come back to bite him in the ass.

 

He made it to the cave in record time and ran into the cave yelling for Bruce and Tim. Tim was in the process of removing his uniform for some maintenance and Bruce was reading some files on a new case or something. Dick didn’t really care to read what was on the big screen.

 

They both turned to him immediately, after all, Dick almost never looked out of breath when running into the cave. He also almost never looked serious or actually fearful. “The Red Hood knows my identity” he blurted out.

 

He saw Tim’s eyes widen rather comically. He would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so serious. “He called me by my name, and he could know yours too, Iwasn’tabletocheckbecauseheranawy-” Bruce raised a hand to silence him.

 

Dick closed his mouth with a snap. “Breathe Dick. Calm down and tell me everything” he said seriously. Tim abandoned his work and pulled up chairs for both himself and Dick. He sat on the edge of his chair, eagerly awaiting any sort of information that could help them identify who he was.

 

Dick took a deep breath before he began to speak. “I was on patrol looking for Red Hood. I had chosen to wait on top of a building and soon enough he showed up. He was pissed and we had a small conversation, I learned nothing except that he was pissed because I showed up.”

 

He took a deep breath and started to fiddle with his hands. “He left and I chased after him for a while. Eventually he stopped. We exchanged a couple other words and then he said ‘Gods, you’re so annoying Dickiebird.” He looked up at Bruce with wild eyes.

 

“He called me Dickiebird, Bruce!” he yelled, slightly hysterical. Bruce seemed slightly alarmed by how Dick was reacting to the situation. Sure the situation was very serious, and it was a big problem. But he had never seen Dick this panicked before.

 

“Dick, you need to calm down” Tim began only for Dick to turn towards him “Only Jason ever called me that!” he screamed. “Only Jason” he whimpered. Bruce was shocked at the turn of events, though he was sure to hide it.

 

He had had no idea that Jason and Dick had gotten close enough to actually have nicknames for each other. He had been sure that Dick and Jason hadn’t had the time to even get to know each other.

 

“But Jason is dead” Tim told Dick quietly. Dick glared at him and responded in a slightly less hysterical tone, “I know that! I know…” he sighed in defeat and placed his head in his hands. “But he called me Dickiebird, and I just froze” he mumbled.

 

Tim patted his shoulder awkwardly. He hadn’t known Jason for who he was. He had watched him as Robin in awe and had looked up to him somewhat, but he didn’t know what Dick was feeling. he couldn’t ever know what Dick was feeling.

 

“But he knew what my name was. And he either knew that Jason used to call me that, or he thought he was being clever by giving me a nickname. I just… I just don’t know what to think anymore.” he said after a moment of awkward silence.

 

“It was probably him just trying to be clever, because B didn’t even know about this and he was with one of you 90%of the time.” Tim said, trying to console his brother. He hated seeing Dick so frazzled. Usually it was the Red Hood who ended up with his feather a bit ruffled after having a conversation with Dick, so this was out of the ordinary.

 

“But if he did know, he could be trying to make you feel uncomfortable.” Bruce, ever the voice of reason, put in. He didn’t trust the Red Hood not to use any and every piece of information he had against them.

 

Dick looked up at him despairingly “he seemed like he slipped up. He froze for a moment after he said it too. And then he ran, something tells me he didn’t want me to hear that.” he mumbled. Nothing made sense anymore.

 

“Maybe he just didn’t want you to know that he knew your identity” Tim offered. At this point it was as good a guess as any. The Red Hood wasn’t in any way mentally stable, no one in Gotham really was. But his sense of Justice was heavily screwed up.

 

“We will have to find out how he even got the information in the first place. We also need to know what he plans on doing with said information.” Bruce decided. Dick nodded and Tim went back to taking off pieces of his uniform and fiddling with some of the mechanisms. 

  
“Good work, Dick. You should get some rest. You have work with the GCPD tomorrow, and patrol is going to be long.” Bruce said as he turned back to the computer to do god knows what. Dick nodded and trudged into the manor, peeling off his uniform as he went. Soon enough he made it to his room and collapsed on the bed. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment down below!


	9. John Blake of the GCPD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only posting because I want to put something out there. I am incredibly proud of myself for frequently updating this trash fanfic. Sorry there isn't much supernatural crap yet, but ya gotta get plot stuff out of the way first.

Dick blinked in the light. He had been woken up only 3 hours after falling asleep by his alarm. He had to have enough time to get ready because he had some long hours to work. It was 6 in the morning and Dick was already displeased.

 

The sun was far too bright for Gotham’s standards. He slowly pulled on a shirt and went out to the kitchen to get a cup of much needed coffee. He had a chipper reputation as a morning person. He planned on keeping it.

 

He gulped down the first cup fast in an attempt to wake himself up. The second cup went much like the first and he brewed another while he went to shower. After drying his hair and putting on the beginnings of his uniform.

 

It was a black dress shirt with some black slacks. Usually police uniforms would be blue, but he was part of Gordon’s unit. They were known for working with the Bat, and doing the more difficult and violent missions. Therefore their uniforms were a bit more discrete. Black faded into the background a lot better than blue.

 

He had a basic utility belt on and had a standard pistol at his hip. That was one thing that Bruce hated about the police force the most. they used firearms, and it was just too easy to fatally wound someone with a gun.

 

Though Dick shared his hatred for firearms, he learned how to use one anyway, it would be suspicious if he didn’t. It would be really weird if he suddenly busted out into some insane acrobatic routines to subdue an opponent instead of simply pulling out a gun and demanding that they put their hands up.

 

Sometimes he really didn’t know why he chose to work with the police, but working with Gordon without the mask was nice. Though he didn’t go by Richard Grayson. Everyone in Gotham knew that he was Bruce Wayne’s adopted son, but few actually knew what he looked like. They knew what he looked like as a teen, but he had changed since then.

 

He had cut his hair a bit shorter, so it stood up in some places. It was rather spiky and it gave him a slightly childish appearance when it was paired with his blinding smiles. But it still wasn’t wise to go by that name. People would automatically base their opinions on what he’d been as a teen.

 

Instead he was an officer in training that had been transferred from Bludhaven. He went as John Blake, a happy rather innocent police officer who didn’t quite yet know the horrors of Gotham. He had only joined recently and had been put in Gordon’s unit because Gordon still needed recruits.

 

It also helped that he was skilled despite his supposed ‘inexperience’. It was rather amusing to see Gordon’s eyes widen when he had been tested in proficiency. He had only been working with Gordon’s unit for a week.

 

Gordon had decided to send him on some basic solo work for him to work up experience first. He had a relatively strongly opinionated group, and they wouldn’t just accept a complete and utter newbie. It was a joke.

 

While Dick was in no way a newbie, he had to pretend that he was just some innocent little 24 year old cop who was getting his first job. Gordon’s cops were known to have a previous… record. They weren’t exactly the cleanest cops, and that’s why Dick was able to fit in so easily.

 

They didn’t ask many questions about his past, they never even checked his file. Shows just how great Gotham’s police force is. No wonder there were so many corrupt cops on the force. He threw on his uniform jacket and grabbed his third cup of coffee. Throwing on his steel toed boots he grabbed some extra weapons and hid them on his person.

 

You could never be too careful after all. Gotham’s criminals were not in any way afraid of the police and fought back quite frequently. Dick had had to help out his fare share of cops during his time as Robin. He knew that they really didn’t stand a chance. Even the common street thugs were more skilled than most cops.

 

That’s just sad. So far, Gordon’s unit is the only one that Batman has even considered halfway decent. And Dick had to agree that they were decent. Sure their pasts were pretty shady, but what could you really do. It’s Gotham.

 

He grinned and yelled goodbye to Alfred before hopping in his police cruiser and heading to the building that Gordon had dubbed his headquarters. Gordon’s team were focusing on the entire Red Hood issues as of late.

 

The other cops had the standard crime down, but Gordon’s group had specialized skills. Most had grown up in the bad parts of Gotham, there was quite a few crime alley kids amongst the team. They knew Gotham the best because they had been running the streets since a young age.

 

They had decided to become police officers after being fed up with how things went in crime alley. It’s not like they actually did much now, but they were working on it. They were both delighted and pissed off at how much the Red Hood had accomplished.

 

Dick hopped out of the car and walked leisurely into the building. He was the youngest cop on Gordon’s team. He was probably the youngest cop in Gotham. Honestly it wouldn’t surprise him. Most youths in Gotham thought that the justice system was bogus, and honestly Dick couldn’t blame them.

 

He worked with both the police and the Bat, and he still thought that the justice that they served wasn’t what was deserved. But there was little he could do. He took a sip of his coffee and put a blinding smile in place before entering the office place.

 

“Good morning everyone!” He called happily. He heard a chorus of groans and a couple half-hearted responses. “Good morning commissioner!” he greeted his superior officer. He did have respect for Gordon, so he chose to show that it the workplace.

 

Even if his opinion on a demonstration of respect was a bit different than other. Gordon gave him this  long suffering look that only a parent could ever really pull off. “Hello, Blake.” He said in a resigned tone.

 

“There any new developments on the Red Hood case?” he asked, casually taking a seat at an open desk. One of the other officers dumped a file in front of him and he eagerly dove into the information.

 

One of the former crime alley kids - his name was Jack Hudson - snickered at his enthusiasm. Out of all the officers, he was the one to treat Dick like a child the most. Even though he grew up in crime alley, and he knew very well that children were very capable of getting what needs to be done, done.

 

He seemed to laugh at every young cop. To be fair, most of the young cops grew up in the nice neighbourhoods of Gotham. Dick may be incredibly young, especially by their standards. Every cop on Gordon’s team had at least 10 years on him. But he was far more skilled than all of them combined.

 

It’s not his fault that they haven’t actually done anything outside the office since he’d officially joined the team. The Red Hood just hadn’t been very active. He fought to hold his grin on his face as he heard a hushed conversation take place while he was reading the file.

 

The other cops seemed to think that he was out of earshot, but he had been trained by the bat to both read lips and discreetly listen in on far away conversations, even over the dull roar of a dinner party. This near silent room was child's play to him.

 

“Why did they even send a kid here?” and officer that he identified as Nick Johnson. He was a police officer who had grown up with a perfectly happy family, but had been given to Gordon because he preferred a more violent method of taking people out.

 

“Beats me, but it's gonna be hilarious to see him in action. 10 bucks he can't even shoot a gun, let alone take out a thug” Jack Hudson laughed.

 

“You're on! I bet the kid won't last 10 minutes in our next fight!” Nick agreed. It irritated Dick that they thought so little of him. He had made it to police officer after all. It would be absolutely ridiculous to automatically assume that he can't even shoot a gun.

 

He grumbled under his breath as he continued to scan the file, looking for any updates. They didn't have anywhere near the amount of information that Batman had managed to procure.

 

They even got some facts wrong. But it wasn't like Dick could actually tell them that. But as he neared the bottom of the document his eyes widened in surprise.

 

They had somehow managed to received word that there would be a trade going down related to the Red Hood. It was a new shipment of drugs for one of his many subordinates.

 

It didn't really matter who it was to Dick though. There shouldn't have been a way for them to get the information so quick. Bruce himself had only found out the night before.

 

He had actually been planning on helping Bruce stop the shipment earlier. But if this was what he thinks it is, then be won’t be able to make an appearance as Nightwing without seeming suspicious.

 

Sure they already thought he was some scaredy cat kid. But so far Gordon had trusted him. If this was going to be a long term job for him, he’d have to prove himself then. He groaned quietly at the thought of having to tell Bruce. It probably wouldn’t go over that well, but he did want to keep his job.

 

“So I assume we’ll be staking out the location and dealing with the situation when the Hood shows up” he said in a slightly defeated tone directed towards the commissioner. He sighed mentally, great. He would also have to watch the backs of these idiots. They wouldn’t be able to handle themselves against a trained vigilante.

 

That’s what the Red Hood was after all. There was no mistaking the skill that the Red Hood possessed. It just bothered him that he did possess that skill. It made his job so much harder. The other cops in the room looked at him in surprise.

 

He had to resist the urge to deadpan at them. Did they really think that he was that stupid? His papers did say that he graduated from training a year earlier than all the other cops his age. they can’t have thought that he was stupid.

 

A quick check at their reactions and he was given his answer. Even Gordon, who had a slightly better insight on his skills seemed surprised. Oh come on. Did he just have one of those faces that screamed innocent? He’d done more than probably all the cops in the room. It wasn’t like he was new to this.

 

“Actually yes. We will be meeting there an hour before the exchange will be taking place. We need to get a good vantage point before things actually begin to go down.” Gordon began. “Well then what’s your plan?” he asked, trying to put some eagerness into his voice.

 

Luckily for him he was a good actor, he managed to mask the dread in his voice with the exact opposite emotion. Good job Dick. Gordon looked uneasy. “Oh don’t tell me that you don’t have a plan” he said, slightly apprehensive.

 

They’d have a plan for this right? He had arrived an hour after they had. There had been a lot of time to come up with a decent plan. He saw Gordon’s cheeks colour slightly, and this time he couldn’t resist the urge to facepalm. “Oh we got a lot of work to do” he said in a resigned tone.

  
It was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment down below! They are always much appreciated!!!


	10. Mission is a Go!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very sorry, this is a crappy filler chapter. Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments! It is really encouraging to know that you guys actually appreciate this work. I'll try to keep my updates frequent.

Dick rubbed a hand down his face. He had just finished explaining to the idiots that he had the unfortunate pleasure of working with, a very simple plan. It involved hiding and then taking out as many goons as possible before the Red Hood noticed. Then simply surround him.

 

Jack and Nick had been fighting over what was the best vantage point for well over an hour. Honestly, he had no idea how Gordon was able to deal with them. They directly undermined his authority on every level possible.

 

And they were absolute brutes with no brains. Some of them were smart and at least respected Gordon enough to try and listen to the plan that Dick had laid out. But most of them still didn’t trust him at all and went out of their way to try and find flaws in his plan.

 

In all honesty, the only problem with his plans was their skill level. When one of them screwed up - which one of them would no doubt do, it would probably be Nick - the plan would be ruined. But Gordon seemed to have confidence in his men.

 

Horribly misguided confidence. Dick just prayed that for once luck would be on their side, and that the Red Hood would slip up enough to get caught by Batman. Dick had been sure to involve the Bat in their plan as well. He told Gordon, that there would be no way the Bat wouldn’t show up, especially if the Red Hood would actually show up.

 

It wasn’t an event to miss. The other officers, probably ones who hadn’t ever seen the Bat, were a bit sceptic. But once he’d pointed out that there wasn’t much happening in Gotham other than the Red Hood, they relented.

 

But there was still a few idiots who couldn’t believe a newbie was creating better strategies than their commander. He looked up at Gordon to see if the plan was ok. He had been oddly silent throughout the entire process of explaining.

 

Dick was tired and annoyed, but he didn’t want to set the old commissioner off. It was a major leap of faith suddenly taking control like that. It was dangerous revealing his skill in strategy as well as his knowledge of the team’s individual skills.

 

He hoped Gordon hadn’t picked up on just how much he knew. “What do you think boss?” he asked, plastering on a fake smile. He hoped that Gordon wouldn’t try to change the plan. His optimized their skills, and left a lot of room for error. Hopefully enough that no one would get hurt.

 

Gordon had too much confidence in the team’s capabilities. If he changed something and left more responsibility on a weak member, then this entire operation would go down in flames. They were playing a very dangerous game as it was.

 

But what was Dick going to be able to do. Worst case scenario he had to pull some moves that definitely weren’t trained to the average cop. He could probably spin some bullshit about being raised in the circus and that’s why he is capable of acrobatic feats.

 

But it was possible that everything would go just as planned, and they’ll be fine. Yeah fat chance, but a man can dream.

 

* * *

 

Dick put on his Nightwing uniform and then placed the typical cop uniform on top. As long as no one removed his clothes, then it would be fine. His suit provided all the protection he would usually need. He threw on a bulletproof vest just for appearances sake.

 

It was thinner than the typical bulletproof vest, so it didn’t restrict his movement as much as a normal vest would. But it was also thick enough not to set any alarm bells off in the officers minds, well as long as none of them look to closely.

 

He was counting on them not being able to see that well in the dark. Even if the sleeve was ripped for some odd reason, he could pass it off as underarmour. The Nightwing logo wouldn’t be visible in the night light anyway.

 

He placed the belt with the gun on the hip on and placed a couple other weapons within easy reaching distance. If he was careful when he was in his civilian identity during the day, he was going to be 10 times s careful about it at night.

 

People didn’t know that he was Nightwing, they didn’t know that he was capable of taking them out quickly. All they knew was that he was just another stupid cop from Gotham’s corrupt system. He wouldn’t be helping them, he would be seen as the enemy by all but Gotham’s cops.

 

He headed down to the batcave to go talk to Bruce before he left to meet up with Gordon and the crew. Bruce was in the process of suiting up when he arrived. “Hey, I’m going to be heading to meet up with Gordon. You sure you’ll be ok without me?” he asked.

 

“We’ll be fine” another voice announced. Robin, or as he knew him, Tim Drake, said as he walked out from the many shadows in the batcave. Dick merely raised an eyebrow at Bruce. He was letting Tim near the police, letting him near the Red Hood?

 

Sure they’d fought before, but the fact that the Red Hood was an alias that the Joker used to use, and the fact that he was a bit more violent towards the young Robin, made Bruce feel uneasy. Bruce gave him a look, and Dick understood.

 

Time would not be staying behind unless he was forced to. There probably wouldn’t be anything they could do to leave him behind, and it’d be better to have him in on the plan, than to leave him out of it and have him screw it up.

 

Dick sighed mentally. Tim could certainly be a handful at times. “Well, looks like the next time I’ll see you guys will be at the location. Now remember Baby Bird, look after B for me ok.” He said in an overly cheerful tone.

 

You could really tell just how excited he was to be going on this mission. Bruce sent him a faintly amused look and Tim nodded at him. Taking it as a sign to leave, Dick walked out of the batcave and made his way on foot down to the meeting place. They wouldn’t be taking any police cruisers.

 

That is a really dumb idea - and ironically the one that the other cops protested the most. It wasn’t enough that they were stupid, no they had to be lazy too - but luckily Gordon put his foot down in favour of Dick’s plan.

 

It might just be because of Dick’s age that Gordon favours him, but he likes to think that it’s the fact that he is 10 time smarter than all the others that Gordon is forced to surround himself with. It get’s tiring after all, being around to much stupid for too long.

 

He made it to the rendezvous point earlier than anyone but Gordon, which wasn’t really surprising. “Commissioner” he nodded to Gordon respectfully. Gordon offered him a soft smile and beckoned him to come closer.

 

Dick took the offered seat, and was content to sit in silence, but Gordon seemed to have different ideas. “How do you think today is going to go?” He asked out of the blue. Dick frowned mentally, should he answer truthfully?

 

“Do you want my actual opinion or an optimistic one?” He asked in return. If it’d make Gordon feel better, he was completely capable of spinning a convincing ‘we can do it!’ speech. But that is far from what he actually thinks.

 

Gordon gives him a look “I’d prefer you be honest with me John.” he said. Dick held back a wince. The fact that he had called him John in that sentence just made his guilt for lying worse. Hopefully Gordon didn’t suspect anything, but he might want to be a bit more careful.

 

“Well” he began. He didn’t know how to go about this. He decided that maybe it would be a decent idea to show Gordon his… thoughts on his men’s competence. “Honestly sir, I don’t think this is going to work very well. The only reason this has a chance to work is because Batman and Robin will show up.”

 

Gordon looked a bit miffed at his response “and why is that John?” he asked. Dick held up his hands as he tried to backtrack a bit. “Well sir, the team obviously has no knowledge on field missions. They seemed better suited to a patrol” he confessed.

 

“They don’t show much respect for authority, and therefore cannot be trusted to follow orders. They’ll most likely try to make a call and end up blowing the entire mission.” he grumbled “from what I’ve read on their files, their skills are sub par, and the only area they excel at is violence and disobedience.”

 

Gordon looked slightly shocked, but he did mull over his words. “They’ve been trained. They’ve had more experience than you, son” he said calmly. Dick smiled a smile that was all teeth. “I believe that you have too much confidence in your team, sir. I don’t think that we’ll make it through the plan. Someone will screw up.” he said confidently.

 

He looked Gordon in the eye then, willing him to see the faults in his team “you wanted my opinion sir.” he said throwing the ‘sir’ out with a bit more acid than necessary. But in all honesty, he was very much done with how Gordon was acting. It was going to cost them.

 

They sat in silence for another couple of minutes before there were figures visible on the horizon. Soon enough the rest of the team showed up and they began to get into position. It was still early, they were going to have to wait a while before anything would actually happen.

 

About halfway into the stakeout, Nick decided to use the comms. “How much longer are we going to have to wait before they arrive?” he asked impatiently. That would have to be another fault that Dick would have to add to the already long list he was making.

 

“These things take time” Gordon said patiently. He really needs a medal, he is able to deal with these guys without snapping. Usually Dick was pretty level headed about these things, but he was also anxious. He didn’t want to be the one who screwed up, the ‘I told you so’ from Gordon would be insufferable.

 

Luckily only a couple minutes after that exchange something began to happen. A boat docked and a crew began to unload large crates. By the time they’d finished unloading everything the sun had set and all was quiet.

 

From his vantage point he could see that Jack was about to open his mouth, and he made a gesture to shut his trap. He shut up but he glared at Dick. Dick was grateful that he had, because as soon as he let out a quiet sigh of relief, there was the sound of trucks arriving.

 

The people who were standing guard around the crates quickly stood at attention,, holding their guns and getting into a ready position. All Dick could think about was the flaws in their stances, but these were the people they were working against, so he would use that to his advantage.

 

It looked like there was only 10 people on guard, so Dick prayed silently that there wouldn’t be that many people to show up with the truck. All together Gordon’s team had 12 members, so they might be able to take 20 if they were lucky.

 

Dick didn’t trust these people to watch his back, and he’d prefer not to have to use his gun. He was hoping that he would be able to just knock them out, but if he got to close there was a chance that friendly fire might take him out. He didn’t trust his teammates aim.

 

Dick was sorely disappointed to see that there was a total of 3 large trucks just littered with goons. There was probably 45 men on the trucks. This would be difficult, even if Batman and Robin showed up. That wasn’t even counting on the fact that the Red Hood would be showing up.

  
He sent a slightly panicked look to Gordon. This was definitely not playing out in their favour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment below!


	11. Blake the Flying Policeman

The men were beginning to load thing son the trucks, and Dick was getting nervous. He didn’t want to let them leave, but he knew that they wouldn’t be able to take these men by themselves. All they could do was wait.

 

Unfortunately, the others didn’t seem too keen on allowing the criminals to get away with their cargo. They still didn’t believe that the Red Hood would even show. They came only for the chance to beat up criminals.

 

They chose that moment to attack. In the lead, was as expected Jack and Nick. Of course they would be the ones to fuck up. He silently cursed their tiny brains and the facts that they weren’t able to wait even for a moment longer.

 

Dick cursed under his breath and pulled out his gun. They were going in willy nilly. This was not going to go well for them. He saw Gordon mirror his actions and they snuck around boxes to get a better view, and possibly a good shooting place.

 

When they were finally in range, Dick couldn’t help but cringe. It seems that the cops had forgotten the fact that they did indeed have guns, in favour of having a fist fight with the guards. They were being overwhelmed, with a ratio of about 3:1.

 

He looked pointedly at Gordon and was rewarded with a slight blush. He took pulled his gun into an aiming position. He didn’t want to have to shoot anyone, but the likelihood that they would win was getting smaller and smaller.

 

Almost all of the cops they had brought with them had been overwhelmed and subdued in one way or another. They were either unconscious, or injured enough that they were down for the count. The only good that they’d done was take down a couple of the goons.

 

He took careful aim and shot a couple of the goons in the knees. He grinned in triumph at his small victory. But it quickly faded as he realized that they had noticed his location. He emptied his gun into the closest goons and dumped the useless weapon.

 

He jumped out from his cover, trusting that Gordon’s aim would be good enough not to hit him, he ran towards where the goons were along with the remaining cops. There were still a few that were putting up a fight.

 

His distraction had taken some of the heat from the injured cops, so now they were only having some one on one battles. If they had lasted this long, Dick was sure that they would be able to finish off a couple one on one fights.

 

Unfortunately for him, all the remaining goons had decided that they wanted to pick a fight with him instead. He wasn’t too eager to take them all at once, but there was no time like the preset to prove his skill.

 

If it helped him take out his anger, then all the better. He grinned as he raced towards the group of goons. They weren’t expecting him to appear just as hot headed as his colleagues. Especially considering the fact that all of the others have been violently subdued.

 

he grinned and took advantage of their surprise, leaping in the air and kicking a couple in the face. They went down real fast and Dick was almost disappointed. But there was a good amount and he felt the familiar rush of the battle take over.

 

He heard a couple gunshots and he was happy to see a couple of the goons on the outside of the little circle he’d made himself, fall. His smile grew as he took out a bunch of other goons. But despite the fact that the numbers were a bit less, they were still too many of them.

 

He just had to hold out a bit longer. Batman would come soon. He tried to convince himself of this, but it wasn’t as easy as it usually was. Usually he didn’t have to worry about babysitting people because he was always partnered up with people who were able to take care of themselves.

 

It was like fighting beside a newly trained Tim all over again. He was constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure that the other cops who were still fighting were ok. Gordon was still taking strategic shots to try and help make it a bit more bearable.

 

It didn’t make that much of a difference, but Dick felt a bit better knowing that Gordon wasn’t in the line of fire yet. But Dick was getting tired, these goons were better trained than he originally thought.

 

He was beginning to get tired, and he was getting sloppy. He took a couple hits here and there. ‘Just a bit longer’ he told himself ‘B and Tim are coming soon.’ He made it just fine for a couple more minutes before another gunshot rang through the air.

 

In that split second, it was as if time had frozen. The sound just echoed, and for a minute, it was like there was no other sound. Then there was pain. It bloomed from his side, and he could feel the warmth of blood as it seeped down his side.

 

He felt his eyes begin to widen, his limbs froze. He had been shot before, but it never stopped surprising him. The thing is, the direction that the bullet came from, it wasn’t from any of the goons.

 

It came from the area that Gordon had been hiding near. He turned and punched the person closest to him. Whoever it was went flying. He clutched his side tightly and pulled his hand away to reveal that his hand was covered in blood.

 

Only a moment later came a rain of bullets. The loud noises shot through the air and men fell left and right. But he wasn’t hit at all, whoever was shooting hadn’t meant to hit him. They were skilled, it hit everyone directly through the heart or to the head.

 

A kill shot. He had been close to a lot of them as well, there shouldn’t have been a clear shot, but someone had made one. He looked up to where the shots had come from, they were in the opposite direction from where Gordon was.

 

He knew it couldn’t have possibly been Batman, he refuses to use guns. It wasn’t his way, plus he didn’t kill. He saw a silhouette. Just one person. He stood in the shadows, but you could tell it was male.

 

He jumped from his perch on top of a bunch of crates and he fell elegantly. He was visible halfway through his descent. He landed with a soft pat, and you could practically hear the smirk in his voice as he said ”I’m sorry I’m late boys! It looks like I missed the start of one hell of a party!”

 

The voice was slightly muffled by the bright red helmet that he wore to hide his identity, but you could still hear his amusement loud and clear. He held an AK-47 in each hand, his fingers loosely resting on the triggers.

 

Dick held a hand firmly to his side as he took a chance and glanced around. The cops that had still been standing were now laying on the floor dead, blood oozing from their heads. Those who had already been on the ground were spared.

 

The men that had surrounded Dick were all on the ground, dead. He looked down at his injury again, it technically shouldn’t have gone through, he should have been wearing his bull- oh. Somehow, it had been ripped off in the fistfight. It was laying a couple feet away.

 

He suddenly felt lightheaded. He wondered why, he’d lost more blood before, it shouldn’t be affecting him now, but it was. He looked up and saw that the Red Hood had dropped his guns, and was instead walking towards him slowly.

 

He fell to his knees, it was all he could do not to collapse. His vision was going fuzzy, and he could see black spots as they begun to dance across his vision. He slumped over, and he would have fallen to the ground, had it not been for the fact that the Red Hood seemed to swoop in out of nowhere.

 

He looked up at the mask that he wore as he was cradled gently in his arms. He couldn’t understand what was happening. He had been shot - probably by Gordon on accident, and he had fought a bit longer - that part was a bit fuzzy.

 

Then suddenly everyone that had been fighting but him had been killed, by the Red Hood no less. And now he is being held - very gently, he might add - by Gotham’s first anti-hero. This was way too confusing, and Dick was not prepared to deal with it.

 

“What-” he tried to rasp out but then he was shushed by the Red Hood. _He was shushed by the Red Hood._  Everything had officially gone to hell now. He had absolutely no idea what to do. He was injured

 

Probably a very serious injury now that he thought about it. The bullet probably hit something vital, especially if he was this out of it. Or maybe his adrenaline had just run out. He was probably in shock too, the pain had certainly dulled from what it was originally.

 

He could still feel the blood seeping from the wound, the bullet had probably been dislodged enough to allow blood to pass during the fight. His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to remember what he was supposed to do.

 

By the time he realized that he should probably stop the bleeding somehow, the Red Hood had pulled out some gauze - where on earth did he get that?!?! - and had begun to wrap the wound, careful to make sure that it didn’t affect the under armor that he wore.

 

“You shouldn’t be active much in the future Big Bird. People might get suspicious if you suddenly get better in your civilian cover. They’ll want to keep you in the hospital.” The Red Hood said quietly as he gently lowered him to the ground.

 

Dick’s vision was still a bit blurry but he was able to sit up at least. He struggled into an upright position and was about to speak when he heard the flapping of a cape, and the the Red Hood was sent flying.

 

Dick turned his head and he was honestly so glad to see that Bruce and Tim had shown up. He allowed himself to relax slightly and leaned heavily on his elbows. He was tired and the blood loss was not helping at all.

 

Tim jumped into the air with his bow staff and began to engage the Red Hood along with Bruce. “Gordon! Call for backup! Your men are injured” Bruce growled in between punches. “‘We’ve got the Red Hood handled.”

 

Gordon came out from his hiding place - Dick felt a small sense of triumph, he had been right, Gordon _had_ been hiding behind those crates - and was frantically talking through the comm. He was saying something about needing a couple ambulances and a bunch of police trucks to take all the criminals into custody.

 

Dick wasn’t really paying much attention to what he was saying. Maybe he should be, but it was pretty hard to pay attention to anything at the moment. Gordon knelt down beside him and pulled his head into his lap.

 

“Blake! You need to keep your eyes open! Do you hear me!” Gordon was shouting at him. At least that’s what it looked like. Dick couldn’t really tell anymore. Everything sounded like it was underwater. He vaguely wondered how they were breathing if they were under water.

 

His eyes wondered to look up at the night sky. He wondered what the stars would look like from here if there wasn’t so many lights nearby. They were far enough away that a few peaked out, but it was a cloudy night.

 

“Dammit John! Look at me! You need to stay awake! Do you hear me!” Gordon sounded like he was really panicked now. He wondered why Gordon was so worried. He was tired. He began to close his eyes, whatever Gordon was worried about could wait until he took a much needed nap.

  
“Blake! John! Can You hear me? You need to-”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you soooooo much for all the lovely reviews! I really like hearing what you think of the story. Thank you for taking the time to read this!
> 
> If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment down below!


	12. A Confrontation Between Enemies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I know this is a trashy explanation, but I honestly couldn't think of anything else. If anyone's got a better idea feel free to tell me! I'll change it. I don't like this chapter, and I'm very sorry about the quality. Exciting stuff will happen soon! I promise.

Bruce and Tim were running late. He knew this, and he could only hope that Dick would be able to hold out until he arrived. He didn’t want to take any chances where the Red Hood was involved. He didn’t trust him to not kill Dick because he’s in his civilian gear.

 

He might not even realize that it’s Dick and just shoot because he’s a cop. The Red Hood is known to hate cops. Bruce and Tim raced across the rooftops, hurrying to the location that they were supposed to meet Dick.

 

It’s not that they didn’t trust his skill, it’s that Dick is technically handicapped, and therefore can’t fight as well as is needed. He scowled, he didn’t like the fact that he had had to be late, Dick could be seriously injured.

 

But there had been nothing that he could have done. There was an attack that he had to take care of before he could leave. Tim seemed to catch on to his sour mood, and stayed quiet the entire journey there.

 

As they were nearing the docks, they begun to hear gunshots. Sharing a look with his current Robin, Bruce rushed ahead, worried about his first son. They didn’t use guns, so that could only mean trouble. Either that or the cops that Gordon had were being stupid and shooting instead of just knocking them unconscious.

 

By the time that they arrived, the gunshots had stopped. They swooped in expecting a fight, what they didn’t expect was to see the Red Hood kneeling beside a downed Dick (that was trying to sit up, that stubborn boy) surrounded by the dead bodies of both goons and cops alike.

 

Batman was furious, even from this far away he could see that Dick was heavily injured, there was a lot of blood on his side. He rushed forward and punched the anti-hero away from Dick. The Red Hood, not expecting to be attacked right then - rookie mistake - went flying.

 

Tim jumped at the opening and began to rain blow after blow down on the Red Hood. The Red Hood was no rookie, and he recovered fast, lashing out with his own blows and forcing Tim on the defensive.

 

Bruce took a quick look around the scene and he noticed Gordon was missing. Looking around for the missing commissioner, he soon found him hiding behind some crates holding a gun that was aimed at some of the goons, though it’s barrel had fallen a few inches.

 

He realized that Tim was just barely holding his own against the Red Hood, so he rushed over to help. Allowing Tim to fight with long ranged attacks, like he was accustomed to. Bruce threw punches at the Red Hood, only to be deflected at every turn. It was frustrating to say the least.

 

He fought like he knew what Bruce would do next. He shouldn’t have had enough information to pick up on his fighting style. It made him nervous, he had only encountered him 3 times since he had risen to power. “Gordon! Call for backup! Your men are injured” Bruce growled in between punches. “‘We’ve got the Red Hood handled.”

 

He needed to make sure that the others were safe before he could actually deal with the Red Hood. He didn’t want to have to deal with the Red Hood using them against him.

 

As soon as he was sure that Gordon had come out of his hiding place to take care of Dick and the others, he turned his full focus on fighting the Red Hood. “Well Batsy! Been awhile since we've last had a good fight like this” he said playfully.

 

Bruce scowled and threw a punch at his head only to be blocked. “Aw Brucie boy! No need to be so violent! I’ll have you know that it wasn't me that shot Dickiebird.” He sounded like he was pouting, but with the helmet he couldn't be sure.

 

There was something odd in the way that he fought and talked. He seemed rather immature in the way that he mocked his enemies while he tried to incapacitate them. It usually works on the bad guys, gets them angry and not thinking straight.

 

But Bruce saw right through it. Dick had been using that tactic for years. Probably invented it. There was something else odd about the way that the Red Hood fought. It wasn't a style that you saw often.

 

It held elements of a street fighter - so the Red Hood was probably a former Crime Alley kid. But it also had a refined and martial arts type feel to the style as well. He used a range of long distance and close up attacks. The Red Hood had a similar style to his own, that is until he started his long distance attacks.

 

He used a series of different acrobatic moves, combined with his pistols to get some shots in. Not a move was without purpose, even though some of them were a little more showy than entirely necessary.

 

It was odd, the fighting style was familiar, but he couldn’t quite remember _why_ it was familiar. “Well then pray tell! What the hell were you doing near Dick?” Tim yelled angrily. Luckily they were far enough away from Gordon that he didn’t hear them.

 

The fact that this mysterious vigilante knew their identities was bad enough, he didn’t need Gordon on his ass too. “Well, I was stopping the bleeding _obviously_ ” the Red Hood replied. The underlying amusement in his voice was beginning to get annoying.

 

“Bullshit” Tim responded. Bruce’s inner Alfred couldn’t help but comment “language”. It sort of just slipped out, and Tim sent him a deadpan look over his shoulder as he took a swipe at the Red Hood. Even the Red hood was looking at him strangely.

 

“Bitch it’s alright. I cuss all the motherfucking time. Assholes just need to get over it and fuck off.” The Red Hood said. Bruce wanted to face palm. They exchanged a few more blows before the Red Hood released some warning shots from his hand guns at their feet, forcing them to back off.

 

“Well it’s been nice and all, but Dickiebird has just fallen unconscious, and _someone_ is about to discover a certain secret! I’ll leave you to that mess. Ciao!” the Red Hood yelled before running over to a motorcycle and driving away. Bruce growled but ran over to where Gordon was trying to wake Dick up.

 

“Commissioner, give him to me. I can get him the proper medical attention faster than the people you’ve called.” He growled in his low Batman voice. Gordon looked up from where he had been yelling at Dick’s unconscious form. “Alright, but know that the only reason I’m letting you take him is because he has the suit on underneath his uniform.” he said.

 

He got up and moved towards his other men, “I’ll come up with a story, drop him off unconscious in front of the hospital. It would be suspicious if he didn’t end up staying there for a time.” he said as he tried to wake up the other cops.

 

Batman and Robin disappeared with the flap of a cape, taking Dick’s unconscious form with them.

 

* * *

 

Dick turned out to be much more seriously injured than they originally thought. He hadn't had much protective gear on, and the goons had come prepared.

 

It turned out that Dick had broken 3 ribs and severely twisted his ankle, along with the bullet wound. He was out of commission as both John Blake and Nightwing.

 

Because he had been injured on the field, Gordon had wanted to keep him in the hospital for at least a week. Dick managed to ween him down to 3 days as long as he only did paperwork for the next 2 weeks.

 

Within those days, Gordon visited every single day to talk about absolutely nothing. It was both nice, and absolutely annoying. Since it was only 3 days, Bruce and Tim hadn't bothered to show up either.

 

They were both a bit busy searching for the Red Hood. He had escaped only moments after he'd fainted without a trace. Bruce thought that the Red Hood was the one that shot Dick.

 

So he was even more determined to hunt him down than ever. Dick didn't want to have to tell him who had really shot him, but he didn't want to have to let him hear it from the anti-hero.

 

That wouldn't be good either. He heard a light knock on the door of his hospital room. The light noise jarring him from his thoughts, and bringing him back to the present.

 

“Come in” he called lightly. It hurt to be too loud, and he hadn't had a drink for a while. Today was the day the doctors would be releasing him, but it shouldn't this soon.

 

Instead of the doctors like he expected, it was Gordon standing in the doorway. He had a bag - probably filled with the extra clothes that he kept at the station - in his hand and a coffee in the other.

 

Dick plastered on a smile at seeing the old man. He still trusted and respected him, but he did hold some bitterness on the fact that he had shot him.

 

Gordon hadn't admitted it yet, he seemed to want to avoid the subject all together. This only gave Dick more evidence that it was indeed Gordon who had shot him.

 

“Hello John. I brought you some clothes to change into when they release you.” He said quietly. Moving over to take a seat beside Dick.

 

Dick nodded in thanks before turning to face the old commissioner with a serious face. “Sir, we need to talk about what happened down at the docks” he said calmly.

 

Quite frankly he was tired of this beating around the bush thing. There was also the fact that he had been wearing his Nightwing uniform on underneath his cop uniform. He needed to know what Gordon knew, and what anyone else knew for that matter.

 

Gordon looked tired, and he sank back into his seat. “Alright, son.” he said softly. Dick looked up at him. “Was it you that shot me?” he asked abruptly. Gordon looked slightly taken aback by that question, but his shoulders slumped slightly.

 

That small tell told Dick all that he needed to know. “Yes it was” he said as he sighed heavily. “There was a man behind you, he was about to grab you. It was a risky shot, I knew it was. If my aim was even a bit off, it wouldn’t have ended well.”

 

“I took the shot, but he somehow heard it. I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to move out of the way. You were mid turn, and it hit you instead.” Gordon put his head in his hand. Dick felt kinda bad for giving the old commissioner so much guilt.

 

“Hey it’s alright!” he said as he smiled brightly “it was an accident sir, I just don’t like being left in the dark about these type of things.” he said. Gordon got a look in his eye then. It was serious, it was the same look that he got from Bruce when he was about to be lectured.

 

“We need to talk about your… night job” the commissioner said in a low voice. Dick felt all the blood leave his face, he had been so dumb. He had just exposed his secret to the commissioner, and now he was busted. This was not good.

 

First the Red Hood knew who he was, now his employee. They could trace his identity back to Bru- oh wait, they can’t. As far as Gordon knew, he was John Blake, just a normal person. He felt slightly relieved that no other information had been leaked.

 

“Who else knows?” he growled. His demeanor seemed to shock Gordon. It seemed he thought that he was just a happy go lucky innocent cop. “Only me. Well other than Batman” he said slightly shocked. Dick slumped over in relief.

 

Maybe the damage wasn’t that bad. “How did you cover it up?” he asked. Gordon looked a little displeased with the fact that he was giving Dick more information than he was receiving, but he answered anyway.

 

“Batman took you away. He dropped you off at the hospital without your Nightwing uniform and patched up enough that it could pass for a field job. The story is that you fought off the Red Hood, but he took you somewhere else to fight. You got shot, and you ran away, stumbling to the hospital after making sure that you wouldn’t bleed out. You passed out in front of the doors” Gordon told him.

 

“No one else was conscious by the time the battle was over, so they had to take my word for it. You are very lucky that no one discovered you, John.” he turned red at the scolding. He knew that he had been stupid, but it was a complete other feeling when you were told that you were being stupid.

 

“I didn’t think I would end up going down.” He admitted to Gordon. “I was planning on joining the fight as Nightwing halfway through. Plus my suit offers a bit more protection, I must have grabbed the lighter one though. It blocks most things but not bullets.” he told him.

 

Gordon nodded in understanding. “You shouldn’t go out as Nightwing for a while.” He told him. Dick resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Geez boss, first you bench me from my day job, now you bench me from my night one.”

 

At the commissioners unamused look, he did roll his eyes “Batman beat you to it. I’ve been benched due to the Red Hood taking an interest in me.” he continued. It was that piece of information that got Gordon’s eyes widening.

 

“Which you is he interested in” he asked, slightly apprehensive. “Both” Dick replied flippantly. It was just another consequence of the job, he knew he could take care of himself just fine anyway. Gordon did not seem as amused.

 

“It’s a good thing that Batman had enough sense to do that. If he hadn’t I’d be calling him right now to talk some sense into him.” Gordon growled. Dick was surprised, he had no idea that Gordon would be so concerned about him.

 

Dick sighed heavily, “I suppose you’re gonna turn me in at one point.” he grumbled. Gordon glared at him “I should. You were the one stupid enough to join the police force while you were breaking the law by being a vigilante.” Dick blushed.

 

In hindsight, that might not have been such a good idea. He shrugged in response. “But I’m not going to. You’re the best cop on the team, your strategy is impeccable, and I haven’t seen fighting that elegant in a while.” Dick grinned brightly at him.

 

“Plus it’s nice to communicate with someone on the same intelligence level as yourself” he added cheekily. Gordon merely shot him a pointed look. “And” he continued “I can get you to give Batman messages for me.”

 

Dick deadpanned at him. Great, so now he was just a glorified messenger.

  
Perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment down below!


	13. Guess Who's Back!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about how long it took to update, but I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life. But here's a chapter that really advances plot, and I'm only a little sorry about the cliff hanger, but I promise the next chapter will be better!

Dick groaned as his chair was jostled again, for the _fifth motherfucking time_. He had been back in the office for only an hour and his co-workers had decided to be complete and utter assholes. Those who had survived the encounter, hadn’t been conscious for most of it.

 

Therefore they didn’t know much about what happened, only that Dick had been shot and went down. They had all healed from their respective injuries very fast, while Dick was on strict orders to do nothing strenuous for the next couple of weeks.

 

They seemed to think it made him weak and that they were somehow better than him despite having had their asses whooped by common thugs. Apparently getting seriously injured and going toe to toe with the Red Hood made him weak.

 

He growled as he continued to work on filing and editing reports on the incident. The other cops, being the lazy people that they were had only just turned in their reports, and there was a lot of unnecessary information put in.

 

Because this information was not only for the police force, but also for Batman, he had to edit them to make them up to par. It frustrated him that they weren’t able to write their own reports, but seeing as he was stuck with desk duty, the least he could do was work.

 

He heard light laughter coming from the other cops in the room and he resisted the urge to scream in rage. His temper had been short ever since he’d been forced to not go on any patrol, and he was getting antsy without his usual stress reliever.

 

It didn’t help that he was surrounded by absolute morons and they didn’t seem to be able to provide any useful information. They weren’t anywhere closer to finding out the Red Hood’s identity than they were before.

 

The only thing that scouting mission had provided was injuries, and he was pissed. They had made fatal errors and yet they still seemed to think that it was ok for them to goof off and joke like it was no big deal.

 

He seemed to have become quite the workaholic after spending so much time with Bruce. He groaned internally as he realized that he was becoming his adoptive father, every child’s worst nightmare; becoming their parents.

 

He continued to write the report, but it was becoming harder and harder to ignore the snickers and passing remarks from the others. Gordon wasn’t in the office today, he was off talking with some of the other teams about group training or whatever.

 

It’s not like the police force did much training after you graduated from the academy, but Gordon agreed that the police force needed more training. Especially with the fact that the Red Hood and his gang were still on the loose.

 

Cops were still being killed left and right despite the lowered crime rate because they were dying of stupid mistakes. And Gordon’s team seemed to be making the most mistakes out of all the force. They were too hot headed and they rushed into problems without thinking of a plan.

 

But for some odd reason, the others were convinced it was for the other groups benefits. They couldn’t get over their own arrogance. It was nauseating, and he had to deal with some of the worst. Namely Jack and Nick.

 

They were the ring leaders of the group, and they were always somehow causing problems. And not just for Gordon. It was mainly for him. “When do you think they’re going to arrange the group training for?” A random officer asked.

 

Dick didn’t remember most of their names. It didn’t really matter much to him, they didn’t really like him, so they didn’t really talk to him. If they never spoke other than through code, there was no point in remembering their names.

 

Well, as of now there wasn’t. Maybe later into his job he should be aware of all of their backstories in case anything became personal, but right now it was too early to know these things without sounding like a stalker.

 

Jack snickered “Ha, it doesn’t really matter when. We’ll still kick their asses six ways to Sunday” he said arrogantly. Dick grit his teeth in annoyance. Nick seemed to think that that was the ideal time to contribute his own two cents of stupidity and said “Yeah, they probably wouldn’t even be a challenge to us. We’ll be teaching _them_ tricks.”

 

Dick growled and swiveled his chair until he was facing the group of cops who were, guess what, doing _absolutely nothing_. “Ok I get that you’re not that bright, but this level of stupidity and naivety is actually surprising me.” He said.

 

“Do you _really_ think that you will be able to teach seasoned cops anything? Let’s not forget the pathetic way you were taken down by common thugs.” He said sharply, venom oozing from his voice. He was just so done with their stupidity and their house sized egos.

 

Nick scoffed “Tch, the only reason you weren’t taken out as quickly as we were was because you stayed behind and hid like a coward” This made Dick even angrier. Was he serious? Did he actually think that charging in like a barbarian was brave? That getting his teammates killed was _smart?_

 

There was no way he could be serious right? “You think that rushing in blind and attacking like fools is brave?” He asked incredulously. Even some of the other cops were looking at Nick bewildered, and they were on his side.

 

“Staying behind and shooting people is cowardly!” Nick argued. He seemed completely sure of his actions and how they were correct. Everyone but Jack looked uncertain. Jack seemed to agree with his friends opinions, but the other looked even more unsure than before.

 

“You think, that I was cowardly?” He almost yelled. “It’s your fault that we lost so many” he choked out. He wasn’t _that_ affected by the deaths of the cops, in Gotham deaths were statistics, and cops were the worst believe it or not. But he was the rookie cop, he was new to the scene, new to death. He had to put on a show.

 

Nick seemed slightly taken aback by his sudden accusation, but Jack stepped in. “Well if you are so amazing Mr. Hotshot Rookie, then why didn’t you step in sooner? _You_ could have saved them.” He said while smirking. He knew it was a low blow, but Jack hated the rookie cop who low key thought he was better than them.

 

“I did what I could. It was their decision to follow your stupid charge, and I saved all of you that are still here. You’re all so quick to forget the reason why I’m off active duty and why Gordon was even able to call for aid!” Dick said quietly. He was past the point of angry, now he was dangerous.

 

“Gordon was also there, he also stayed behind. He even stayed out of the way by the time that I’d joined the fray. You know full well that the reason why we failed, why we lost so many, was because you couldn’t follow orders” he finished his rant. He was done with those two idiots.

 

They were the reason why people had died. It wasn’t his fault, and he refused to have these people try and convince him otherwise just to make themselves feel better. They were grown men, and if they couldn’t face the consequences of their actions then they weren’t suited to work as cops.

 

With his piece said he turned back to his work and began to furiously type all the important information that he’d found inside the pathetic excuses for reports. Seriously, it looked like something a high schooler would hand in for their applied course.

 

The office was luckily silent for the next hour as the others mulled over all that had been thrown out during the fight that had happened between Dick and Jack and Nick. There was only the dull drone of the news channel on the TV. No one had the urge to go over and turn it off. They didn’t want to eliminate the only source of sound in the office.

 

But then a sentence was uttered from some poor news anchor that caused Dick’s head to snap towards the TV barking for someone to turn it up. “Yes, the Joker has indeed broken out of Arkham. It has come as a surprise to everyone as there hadn’t much big crime in Gotham for years. What could the Joker up to?”

 

The news lady said as she stood outside the broken section of Arkham Asylum. It looked like the entire section had been blown up. Whether it was from the inside or from the outside was still unclear. There wasn’t enough evidence at the scene yet. There was a bunch of cops who had already shown up at the scene, including Gordon.

 

Everyone crowded around the small TV, anxious to hear any news on what the Joker could be planning. "I’m here with Commissioner Gordon, and he is going to tell us everything he can about recent events” the news lady said as she practically shoved the microphone in the commissioner’s face.

 

Gordon looked very uncomfortable at being put on the spot, but he tried to answer anyway. “I’m very sorry but there isn’t much that I am allowed to tell you, other than the basic facts. It looks like it was a break out from the inside, but god only knows how he got his hands on the explosives. Other than that, I can tell you that my team will personally be handling this along with the Batman”

 

He gave one last nod towards the news lady out of respect and shot a look at the camera, seemingly trying to send a message through the screen before he turned around and went to talk to the other officials that were at the scene.

 

The news anchor pouted slightly at the lack of concrete information about the break out and turned to face the camera again. “Well there you have it folks! The police force are working hard to both find the Joker and get him back behind bars. Back to you Christian!” She said semi cheerfully.

 

Dick growled in barely suppressed rage, this was exactly what they needed. With himself out of commission and on strict no fighting orders, he wouldn’t be able to help Bruce and Tim when they inevitably went to confront the Joker. As if there wasn’t enough on his plate already, he had to deal with the idiots while they interfered with Batman’s work.

 

Only half an hour later Gordon walked into the office. He was immediately swarmed by all of the team. They bombarded him with countless questions about the status on the Joker as well as the Batman.

 

Dick felt a headache coming on. He rubbed the bridge of his nose in irritation, honestly, couldn’t they be at least a _bit_ professional. He nodded his head in greeting to the commissioner but didn’t spare more than a glance.

 

He wordlessly accepted the flash drive that Gordon tossed him as he made his way deeper into the room. Plugging the flash drive in, he began to analyze the different pictures and angles that the commissioner had managed to get for him, making mental notes on what to include in his report to Batman.

 

Gordon was almost finished reporting his knowledge to the rest of the cops when Dick received a message from Batman. He turned his chair and spoke suddenly, interrupting the commissioner. “I’ve received information that Batman is currently engaging the Joker. It would be unwise to leave the building right now.”

 

Gordon nodded and went to continue to inform the others on what was happening earlier that day, but Jack would have none of that. “How do you even know that?” He asked bewildered. Dick deadpanned, “the commissioner isn’t the only one who has connections with the Batman.” He said simply.

 

Jack looked annoyed at his response, but he dropped it. They spent the next hour speculating over what the Joker’s next plans could be. Nick seemed convinced that he would blow up different public places and that they should order evacuations as soon as possible. Jack thought that he’d go after the police force and that they should confront him first.

 

DIck wanted to facepalm so hard. They were _idiots_. They should know by now that causing mass panic would do no good for them whatsoever. And that it would be pretty pointless to stage a mass attack where the Joker could just kill them all with one explosion.

 

They were draw out of their arguments by both his computer screen and the TV briefly going to static before the Joker’s face appeared on screen. Dick resisted the urge to jump back in fright - he was a trained vigilante goddammit - while the others crowded around either of the two screens.

 

Ironically most of them ended up looking over his shoulder at the _smaller screen_. He was working with idiots. He was broken from his thoughts by a loud tapping sound. The Joker had approached the camera and was beginning to tap on the lens. “Is this thing on?” He asked in a mocking sort of way only he could pull off.

 

“Well, greetings citizens of Gotham! Don’t panic now, you’ll go back to your boring lives soon enough. I just need to get a message out to my dear old Batsy!” He giggled. “Most of you are probably wondering what I’m going to do after so long off the streets.” He continued.

 

“Don’t worry I’m not going to damage too much!” He cackled in glee. “If you play your cards right, then only 1 person will die today!” He yelled happily, as he took a step back from the camera. Because of this they were able to see more of where he was standing. And it wasn’t pretty.

 

The walls were covered in blood, and he was holding a bloody crowbar. Dick winced as he saw that weapon in the hands of the Joker. He took a step to the side and then Dick gave up on hiding his horrified expression.

  
Because laying up against the wall, tied up and beaten bloody, was his little brother Tim still in full Robin getup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment below! I absolutely LOVE hearing your opinions on my story! It' really nice to know that some people actually enjoy these trashy fanfics I write.


	14. The Joker is Going Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about the long wait! I've just had a lot of crap to deal with for school (writing an urban legend in french in only 3 paragraphs is hard, AND my teacher expects it to be interesting and have a cool hook. Oh and we have to fucking present too)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you like the chapter.

Dick couldn’t take his eyes off of Tim’s still form. He was curled in on himself, in a vain attempt to protect himself. His hands were cuffed behind his back, and his utility belt was gone. The Joker had removed his boots, leaving his feet bare. They were pale white, whether it was from the cold or from blood loss Dick couldn’t tell.

 

His cape was tattered, and his mask looked distressed, but it didn’t reveal his identity. His face was pale as well, causing Dick to feel worried about how much blood he’d lost. His breath came in short pants, the air was cold enough that you could see a small white puff every times he exhaled.

 

There was a small furrow in between his eyebrows and a slight tightness in his facial expression that showed that even in his unconscious state he was in pain. There wasn’t many tears on the top of Tim’s uniform, but you could still clearly see the points where the Joker’s crowbar had made contact with his body.

 

Despite the fact that his suit was red, you could clearly see large splotches of red. Based off the amount of blood and Tim’s pained breathing, multiple ribs were broker. There was a small trickle of blood coming from his mouth too. It could be due to being hit in the face - which is also _not_ a desirable option, but it was better than the alternative - or one of his ribs had punctured a lung and he was bleeding internally.

 

One of his legs was also bent at an awkward angle, and the other leg lay limp, completely unmoving. It was very unnerving seeing Tim in this condition. When Jason had died, Dick hadn’t even seen the body. Bruce hadn’t even told him until 2 months after the funeral. He had been on an off world mission, and Bruce had not deemed it important to inform him of _his brothers death_.

 

They hadn’t been close, and Bruce knew that. But he’d have still wanted to go to his brother’s funeral. Anyway, the point is he never actually saw Jason’s body. He didn’t get to see him after Bruce recovered his body, and he didn’t see his body after the morticians had prettied it up.

 

The only reason he even knew about what had happened to Jason (well other than the obvious - being killed by the Joker) was because he had dug around and found the medical files. These injuries were so similar to the ones that Jason had.

 

What made his horror and seeing his little brother lying there, so still, was imagining Jason in the same situation. But not unconscious. Jason had been awake and aware. He had been expecting Bruce to come and save him. He had held onto the fact that Bruce was coming to save him.

 

_And then he hadn’t._

 

They would _not_ be having a repeat of the last time. Tim would not turn out like Jason. Dick would do anything he possibly could to make sure that that didn’t happen. He didn’t know if he could refrain from not breaking Batman’s one rule though.

 

After what the Joker did, is doing, he doesn’t deserve to live. “So Batsy, you know the drill! You just need to find where I’m hiding your little bird.” He giggled. “But it wouldn’t be fair of me not to give you a hint, right Batsy?” He leaned closer to the camera and sent a chilling stare directly at them.

 

“Just like last time” he said in a low voice “you’ve got 8 hours before the bird kicks the bucket and about 6 hours before my bomb goes off.” He said in a dark tone. With one last sneer he started to laugh for an uncomfortable amount of time before the transmission cut off leaving static for a few seconds.

 

Dick sat frozen for a second before he was suddenly moving in a flurry of motion. The speed at which he typed and pulled up programs actually made those who were watching behind him jump. All the while he was mumbling frantically and pressing buttons on an earpiece that the others were just noticing now.

 

“What are you doing?” One of the officers demanded sharply. Dick didn’t even pause in his frantic typing as he turned to answer the random officer, “what do you think I’m doing?!? I’m tracking the signal” he growled.

 

“Robin is down and we only have 6 hours to find him or else another Robin is going to end up dead because of the Joker” he said furiously. There was no way that that was happening, but he could at least take comfort in the fact that Tim hadn’t been in the Joker’s custody for more than 8 hours. It was still a bad amount of time, and there wasn’t much time left to find him - Gotham was a big city, and they could be anywhere - but according to Batman’s report, Jason had been missing for _days_ before the bomb had gone off.

 

Plus with both him and Batman, there was definitely a higher chance of finding out where the Joker was keeping Tim. “Why do you even care? It’s just another one of the rule breakers… and since when did the Joker kill Robin? Isn’t this the same Robin as before? You know the second one.” Nick said annoyed.

 

He didn’t like the fact that Dick was so worried about this. Batman would rescue his sidekick, wouldn’t he? Dick’s eyebrow began to twitch at the man’s absolute ignorance. There was only so much stupidity he could tolerate, and clearly this man was pushing the limits.

 

Surprisingly it was Gordon who responded “we should all care, after all that the Batman has done for this city, he deserves our help in finding his partner. I know for a fact that if Batman and Robin hadn’t shown up when we were facing the Red Hood we’d all be dead.” Gordon was dead serious, and he spoke in quick clipped tones.

 

“And this Robin is actually the third Robin. The first moved on the become Nightwing, but the second was killed a couple years ago by the Joker. You would know that if you paid the slightest amount of attention to what the Joker was saying.” He snapped.

 

He shot a concerned look over at Dick before turning to bark orders to the officers that were standing around doing nothing. “Now get moving, I want you to narrow down the places that the video could have taken place in. It’s mid spring and it was clearly below or close to freezing wherever the video was being taken. There’s only so many places in Gotham, now MOVE” he barked harshly.

 

That seemed to shock the more useful cops out of their reverie and into action. Some moved to try their own hand at tracking the signal, while others pulled out maps and began to narrow down the different areas that could fit the criteria of what they saw. Luckily for them, Dick had recorded the message almost as soon as it started playing, so some of the other, more strong stomached cops were re-watching the footage, desperately searching for clues.

 

Dick typed furiously as he tried desperately to find his little brother. Bruce still wasn’t responding to his calls, and he was beginning to get worried.

 

* * *

 

Jason was sitting at home minding his own business when his day was interrupted by a surprise episode of Joker TV. Needless to say, he was pissed. First of all, _the Joker was still alive_ , and he’d never really get over that. Second of all, he escaped.

 

That was something that really bothered him, like really? Couldn’t Bruce manage to cause him enough bodily harm that he couldn’t escape to cause havoc again? He couldn't mangle a limb beyond repair and maybe the Joker wouldn’t be able to get around? Or you know, hit him hard enough that he goes into a coma?

 

Or even put him under a medical coma. Really at this point anything short of death should be ok with Batman. So technically that would be an ideal way out. The Joker lives, but he can’t harm anyone ever again. A win win situation.

 

But we’re getting off the point here. The Joker’s out - and yes, that _is_ a really bad thing - but that’s not what is really bothering Jason at this point. He would have probably just let batman have his fight with the Joker before swooping in and killing him when Batman made it obvious he was just going to put him back in Arkham, because if Bruce had his way that was what would happen.

 

But then the Joker had said something that made him look up from where he was cleaning out one of his guns. _“I’ve caught another one of your little birds”_ he said. And Jason had just frozen. He had simply looked on with wide eyes. He couldn’t wrap his head around it quite yet.

 

Not only did Bruce replace him, but it seemed the Joker had noticed and kidnapped him as well. He stared at the kids broken body - because that was what he was, just a kid (technically Jason was also still a kid in the eyes of _every adult ever_ but he liked to ignore that) - and he felt anger like he’d never felt before.

 

Not even the pain of betrayal from Bruce made him this angry. His vision was literally tinged a pale green. He tried to calm down so that he could make rational decisions, but he found that he just didn’t have the will to. This was a _kid._ Just another kid that had fallen for Bruce’s idea of justice and wanting to protect Gotham.

 

And if Bruce didn’t find him, then he’d end up facing the same fate that Jason had. He most likely wouldn’t come back like Jason did either. This was not good at all. There wasn’t anyone other than Dick, Bruce and himself. He wasn’t to keen on throwing Missouri’ sacrifice back into her face. Damn demons probably wouldn’t even let him make a deal anyway, he’s got some damn destiny that even they want to see play out based off what he’s heard.

 

Yes he has been keeping up with the supernatural world, and he’s had some run ins with demons in the last couple of years. No he will not elaborate because it’s a _long_ story. (AKA I’m lazy)

 

Dick and Bruce didn’t even know about the supernatural either. Bruce hadn’t tried to bring him back, so he doubted that he’d sacrifice the mission for this Robin either. But he seemed to like this one better that he liked Jason, so it could go either way.

 

Dick would sacrifice himself for Tim in a heartbeat. He wouldn’t even care about the consequences of his actions, and Jason couldn’t find it in himself to want to tell Dick what he could do to bring Tim back. He could be selfish too, and despite the fact that Tim was a kid, he had known Dick longer.

 

Plus, if he had any say in the matter - and you better believe that he does - Tim wouldn’t be dying the same way he had. He didn’t give a shit about his cover at this point, if Bruce found out that he was Jason then so be it. All that mattered was saving Tim.

 

He growled as he saw the state that Tim was in. There was definitely no way that he wasn’t getting involved. He quickly put the parts of his gun back together and went to suit up. He’d head out to scour his territory as well as the rest of Gotham.

 

It was pretty likely that the Joker would be hiding him in a warehouse. And there was one in his territory that fit what appeared in the video. There was a warehouse that was near the water, and since it was early spring, it would be cold enough in the warehouse to make it the place that the Joker had chosen.

 

Plus, the Joker had shown a… preference for warehouses.He roughly grabbed his mask, helmet and leather jacket as he ran out of the house. He put the mask and helmet on quickly and swung across the rooftops headed towards the warehouse. The Joker was going to pay for daring to hurt another Robin.

  
His eyes glinted lime green behind his mask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment down below!  
> I love to hear from you guys! Oh and if you like the story and want to see more, feel free to subscribe!


	15. Green Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for making you guys wait again! This is actually a slightly longer than average chapter, so I do hope you guys like it!
> 
> I'm posting this at like 11:45 at night so...
> 
> Anyway thank you guys sooooo much for the lovely comments I really appreciate it!

Bruce had been frantically searching Gotham for what felt like hours. He needed to get to Tim  _ now _ . There was no telling what the Joker could do to Tim, what he  _ had _ done already. He needed to get him away from the Joker as soon as possible. 

 

But he was just too distracted and frazzled to think straight. Thousands of places were running through his head. For all he knew, the Joker could have even taken him out of Gotham. There was just way too many places to check in the small amount of time he was give.

 

They had been on patrol after the news that the Joker had broken out. He hadn’t bothered to call Dick, Gordon had probably briefed him anyway. But he had been so sure that the Joker wouldn’t do anything within the first few hours out of Arkham.

 

The low crime rate had lulled him into a false sense of security, and Tim had payed for his mistake. They’d been caught in an alley and completely surrounded. By the time all of the goons were down, Tim was gone. His tracker had been completely disabled, and whoever the Joker had put in charge of taking him had been good. There was no trail.

 

But after the Joker had sent his message, he began to get even more worried. Normally he could count on the fact that Tim would be fighting tooth and nail to get back to him. But he was in no condition now. It was too much like what happened to Jason. 

 

He shook his head in frustration. He couldn’t afford to think about what happened to Jason right now. All that mattered was getting Tim back and safe. He couldn’t lose another son, especially not the same way.

 

He was running across the rooftops towards yet another warehouse. He’d already visited a total of 20 warehouses and he hadn’t found anything. He wasn’t thinking straight, he couldn’t find enough evidence from the video.

 

All he could think of was the fact that Tim was going to die the same way that Jason had if he didn’t get there in time. The warehouse that he was making his way towards was near the water. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought to check there before, but after watching the video, it seemed obvious.

 

He knew that the Joker loved to warehouses. Most of the time they ended up meeting in warehouses because of that. It had enough space for goons and to hold supplies. It provided decent cover for them to receive supplies and send them out.

 

It was also where he’d taken Jason. Who’’s to say that he wouldn’t do it again. Bruce prayed to god that this would be the right warehouse. Tim was running out of time, and there was only so much that  he could do.

 

As he neared the warehouse, he heard gunshots and he began to get worried. What was the Joker doing? Was it already too late to save Tim? His 6 hours were almost up. He rushed into the warehouse, and was greeted with a rather gruesome sight. 

 

Tim lay in the corner of the room, propped up against the wall and probably still unconscious. Only about 5 feet away was a giant stack of dynamite and a timer. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw the timer has stopped at 04:38:23.

 

Someone had stopped the bomb. He felt his breath catch in his chest as he realized it couldn’t possibly be Tim. He was to far away from the timer, and with his injuries, there would be a bloody trail left behind if he crawled. But there was not such trail. 

 

It looked as if Tim hadn’t moved from his spot by the wall since he’d been left there. But that left another problem. Who stopped the bomb? It couldn’t be the Joker, he wasn’t done playing yet, Batman hadn’t shown up to save the day. And the bomb had been stopped well over an hour before.

 

He was drawn out of his musings by the sound of someone being beat up. He turned away from his son to see what was happening. Whoever was the third party in this was most likely hostile. He had to take him out before he could properly attend to Tim.

 

What he saw almost scared him more than the sight of Tim lying unconscious, it was a close second. Instead of the Joker smirking at his genius plot to get him to fight, he only saw big splotches of blood strewn across the ground. It made him even more nervous.

 

Was it Tim’s blood? No, Tim may have sustained some pretty bad injuries, but most of them were done by a blunt object - most likely a crowbar - he wouldn’t have bled this much. But the amount of blood still alarmed him none the less.

 

He crept forward and rounded a stack of boxes and what he saw surprised him. There stood the Red Hood furiously attacking a downed Joker. He pulled out a gun - he could see many guns strewn across the floor already, how many guns did he have? - and lifted the Joker up by his collar.

 

He pressed the gun to his forehead and snarled “you deserve death you sadistic fucking clown” his finger began to tighten on the trigger. He should have rushed over and stopped him, taken any action really. But all he could do was reach forward and yell “DON’T!”

 

* * *

 

Jason was pissed. He arrived at the warehouse in only half an hour - way longer than he would have liked, but it was at the very edge of his territory and about halfway across Gotham - which would give him more than enough time to stop the stupid bomb before it went off.

 

He smirked dangerously behind his helmet. The Joker definitely wouldn’t be expecting him, he was an unknown variable in this situation. He burst through the warehouse doors and resisted the urge to snarl as he was greeted with the Joker’s signature laugh.

 

“hAHahAhaHA! Batman I had ex-” he cut himself off as he turned around and saw that it wasn’t Batman that had burst through the door practically dripping blood lust. The Joker frowned at the sight of his copycat instead of the Bat.

 

The facial expression marred his scars, twisting them into a grotesque line. After a moment the dark look in his eyes faded and the smile was put firmly back in place. “Why hello there! I wasn’t expecting  _ you _ . It seems you’ve come to join the party! Welcome welcome!” The Joker cried gleefully.

 

Jason’s lip curled back in disgust at the  _ creature _ that stood before him. He couldn’t believe Batman, no,  _ Bruce _ had let this… this  _ thing _ live. He was an absolute abomination. He growled under his breath at the way the Joker had chosen to address him.

 

“You’re my copycat aren’t you? I have to say it really is flattering, and I’d love to hear all about it while we wait for my Batsy to show up and get the show on the road” and this comment Jason couldn’t hold back a snarl.

 

He nearly flinched back in absolute disgust at the fact that the Joker thought he honestly admired him. Didn’t he get that he chose that name out of spite? Well he probably couldn’t because he didn’t know who he was, but he didn’t care.

 

“You sick sick monster” he said angrily, “you honestly think that I  _ admire _ you?! In your dreams. As if anyone would want to spend time with you, you monster!’ He yelled angrily. The Joker seemed slightly taken aback at his harsh words.

 

He leaned back and placed a hand over his heart - normally Jason would say he didn’t have one but he was still alive, so he had to at least have a physical heart. Plus the thing he had for Bruce was kinda creepy.

 

“I’m wounded! If you don’t admire me, then pray tell, why did you choose to call yourself the Red Hood? Especially if you’re allied with Batman.” He said mockingly. Jason scoffed. “You actually think I work with Batman?!” He asked incredulously.

 

“You know full well that Batman has one rule no one that works with him is allowed to break. He doesn’t kill.” He sneered “I do” the Joker merely raised an eyebrow. He seemed to contemplate his words before nodding his head in agreement.

 

“Yes, my dear Batsy does indeed have that one stupid little rule. It’s a pity he continues to stick to it.” The Joker pouted and placed a thoughtful finger on his chin. “But if you’re not with the Batman, and you aren’t with me… what are you doing here?”

 

Jason smirked and pulled out two guns, “why I’m here to save a certain little bird” his grin grew even more feral and his vision began to cloud over with a lime green haze “and get some old fashioned revenge”

 

* * *

 

About an hour after Jason arrived, the Joker passed out from the thorough beating that he’d received. After making sure the Joker was in no condition to run, (and the haze had faded slightly from his vision), Jason ran over to the bomb and began to disable the timer.

 

He did not want to go boom ever again. Getting blown up hurt a lot more than he had expected it too. But not as much as getting left behind or replaced. After making sure that the bomb timer wouldn’t continue to count down and that they weren’t in any danger of being blown sky high, he went over to check on Tim.

 

The young boy was still somehow awake, his eyes hooded and hazy. The kid clearly wasn’t all there, and Jason couldn’t really blame him. With all of the shit that the kid had gone through within the past day, he’d be more surprised if the kid was completely lucid.

 

“Hey kid” he said softly, no longer being affected by his rage. He began to examine just how badly the kid was hurt and he grimaced at the extent of the injuries. Tim shifted his head slightly, moving it so that he could get a better look at Jason.

 

His eyes widened slightly, well the one that wasn’t swollen shut did. His pale blue eye looked up at Jason. For a minute there was no recognition in the kid’s eye, and he flinched backwards slightly.

 

But then he seemed to focus on Jason’s red helmet and the eye widened in fear. He flinched backwards sharply in what can only be identified as fear. Pure and utter fear. Geez, what has Bruce been telling them about him? 

 

“Shhh, it’s ok. I’m here to help you” he said calmly. He couldn’t afford to have the kid react negatively. If he tried to move too much it could affect his broken ribs and they could end up piercing a lung. 

 

Tim only seemed to react worse and he resisted the urge to groan. Tim looked up at him wide eyed and Jason kind of felt inadequate. He’d never really been good with bedside manner. That had always been Alfred’s thing.

 

Then he got an idea. Maybe it’d calm the kid down if he looked a bit more familiar. Back in the day - god he was old - he had looked an awful lot like Dick. Although his skin tone was a lot different than Dick’s.

 

While Dick had been nicely tanned from his Romani heritage, Jason had been a very pale child. He hadn’t spent much time outside of shelter during the day, and he mostly went out at night. He had gained some color after being adopted by Bruce. 

 

But he’d quickly lost what tan he’d gained after he’d been resurrected. He still wore a domino mask, and he was lucky that he’d chosen to grab the black one before running out of his safe house. Dick wore a black one and there was a chance that Tim wouldn’t be lucid enough to recognize the fact that his uniform was wrong.

 

There was already a chance that Tim would realize he wasn’t Dick, but he doubted that Tim would realize that he was the former Robin. He raised his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “It’s ok! I’m just going to take off my helmet. I’m not going to hurt you” he murmured gently.

 

Tim watched him with a weary gaze as he took off his helmet to reveal his face. Tim didn’t seem to recognize him, but he didn’t seem any more scared of him, but at least he wasn’t backing away in fear anymore.

 

Then he scrunched his eyebrows together as he stared at Jason’s face. He pressed his lips together. “Ok, now just relax. I’m not here to hurt you Tim. I’m trying to help. I’ve shut off the bomb, so now I need to see how injured you are before I can get rid of the Joker.”

 

Tim didn’t seem to understand everything that he was saying, but he got the general message. He relaxed slightly and nodded at him, letting him know that he could come closer without being attacked.

 

It wasn’t like Tim could actually do much damage in his state, but Jason was concerned about his mental state at the moment. He wanted Tim to understand that he wouldn’t hurt him. That he wasn’t like the Joker.

 

He approached him with his hands in the air, and he was able to get close enough to him to properly gauge his injuries. He was working on making sure nothing was too life threatening - he wasn’t planning on taking him home, Bruce would arrive soon enough and take him back to the cave - when Tim seemed to come back slightly.

 

His eyes cleared slightly and he stared at Jason’s face. “Wh-wh-” he tried to speak, but Jason shushed him. “Shh Little Bird, you shouldn’t speak, you need to conserve your strength until Bruce arrives” he consoles him.

 

Tim’s eyebrows furrowed even more, and Jason tried his best to not burst out laughing at how cute the kid looked. His tongue darted out and ran over his split lip. “Who a-are you? W-why do y-you know my i-identity?” He asked weakly.

 

Jason thought about what he should say. He didn’t want to reveal more than was necessary but he couldn’t exactly lie to the kid either. “All you need to know is that I hate the Joker, and that I’m not here to hurt you or Bruce.” He told him.

 

Tim glared weakly at him. “I don’t think you are who you say you are” he muttered. Jason roller his eyes and got back to work. None of his injuries needed immediate attention. He’d be ok until Batman came and got him.

 

Just as he was finished looking him over Tim decided that he would continue to try and talk. “W-wait” he said, “J-jason?!” He asked. Jason honestly believed that his one good eye couldn’t grow any wider, but he was proven wrong when believe it or not, Tim’s eyes widened even more.

 

“Jason’s dead” he said calmly, but it seemed that Tim had finally lost consciousness. He prayed that Tim wouldn’t remember this when he woke up. He’d already fucked up once, there was no need for him to fuck up yet again.

 

He heard a groan coming from the area that he’d left the Joker in. He slipped his helmet back on and his gaze took on a slight green hue. That bastard was going down. He had no idea when the Joker would be arriving, but he knew that the Joker was going to spend the next hour or so paying for everything that he’d done.

  
He looked around and saw a bloody crowbar on the ground. That seemed like a good place to start. He picked the crowbar up and his vision faded to green.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I'm really grateful to everyone who is reading my story and actually cares about it! It's really nice to hear feedback from all of you, and the comments motivate me to update.
> 
> If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment down below! If you like this story please subscribe to get an e-mail notification when I update!


	16. The Moment You've All Been Waiting For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! I'm actually getting better at being a bit more frequent! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon, but I literally just finished writing this one. Sorry for any mistakes. Enjoy my friends!

The moments after that were all a blur of bright green and red. He didn’t remember all of it quite yet, his mind was still too clouded with anger. But he came to in the end, his anger had been satisfied.

 

He’d done quite a number on the Joker. He was actually pretty satisfied with the condition the Joker was in, but he’d never feel completely safe until the Joker was gone. He was sure that once Tim regained consciousness and healed, he wouldn’t feel safe either.

 

He couldn’t wait to get this son of a bitch off the streets forever. He knew for a fact that they weren’t the only ones who’d be relieved that the Joker was no longer among the living. There was an awful lot of victims of the Joker’s cruelty.

 

They’ve been calling for revenge for a long time. But their calls were always dismissed. The police of Gotham were corrupt, and all they cared about was the money in their pockets. Not justice. It was frustrating, and that is probably why people look up to Batman so much.

 

He was a symbol of hope in this sick city. A twisted symbol of hope, but hope none the less. But then, there were those that Batman didn’t help. And they felt betrayed. They wanted their rapists and families killers dead. They wanted vengeance.

 

The Joker had wronged a lot of people. It’s not like anyone would actually miss the twisted clown anyway. So who was Batman to come and stop him? He shook his head slightly. It was time to get a move on before Batman actually arrived.

 

He could kill the Joker and be out of there in no time. He grinned behind his mask, he had considered removing his mask so that the Joker could know who his killer was, but he decided not to. He didn’t owe the Joker anything, and all that mattered was that the psycho was dead.

 

He stooped down and grabbed the Joker by his collar and pulled out another one of his guns. This was going to be so sweet. He snarled, letting the green haze fall over his vision again. This was the moment he’d been waiting for, for so long.

 

“You deserve death you sadistic fucking clown” His finger tightened on the trigger, when suddenly he heard a shout. “DON’T” an authoritative voice yelled. He froze, he had been so close. The clown that had plagued his nightmares for years was almost gone forever.

 

But that voice… it was Batman. He lowered the gun from the Joker’s head, but he didn’t drop the clown. There was no point in giving up his leverage quite yet. Plus, even if he dropped him it wasn’t like the Joker was in any condition to move. It was the goddamned Batman. He’d run out of time.

 

“Batman” he snarled. He was very unhappy with the situation. He’d thought he’d had more time. Surely he could have killed the Joker before Batman arrived. But no, he just had to get there a second or two early.

 

It was infuriating. He could have always shot the Joker right then and there, but there would always be a little part of him that was hardwired to listen to daddy's orders. No matter which dad he was talking about. He had always been the perfect soldier, why did he think that it would stop after he died.

 

He’d had a pretty good handle on it, well up until that moment. The shear demanding tone, filled with slight desperation caught him off guard. Why was Bruce a little bit desperate. Did he not want this criminal dead _so bad_ , that he’d rather come and stop his execution than take care of his injured son?

 

The son that was currently lying unconscious against a wall in the warehouse? Damn Batman had issues. “It’s nice to see you arrive on time for once” he told him in a matter of fact voice. In all honesty, it actually was. It showed that he did care enough about his replacement to actually bother to find him.

 

At least the kid had that going for him. A protective Bat was a dangerous Bat. Even under the cowl, he could see that Bruce was confused. He just couldn’t add up the statements. He must be really frazzled if a simple situation like this stunned him practically to the point of speechlessness.

 

“What- what do you mean?” he asked. He still had a hand extended towards him as if to reach out and stop him. But it hung there limply, like he was no longer paying attention to his actions and had just frozen.

 

Jason cocked his head to the side. “Well isn’t it obvious? You’ve arrived in time to save one of your little birds. It’s unfortunate you’d arrived at this very second though. I was just about to take out the trash.” he told him, making gestures with his free hand, waving the gun around.

 

Bruce tensed and his eyes never left the gun. But he did straighten up slightly, revealing just how out of his depth he was in this situation. “Why are you here?” he growled out in his deep gravely voice. Apparently not as out of depth as Jason had thought.

 

Jason frowned. He thought he’d been quite clear. “I already told you, I’m here to take out the trash for you.” He didn’t understand what was so hard to understand about that. It wasn’t like he was speaking another language.

 

Maybe Batman would understand better if he was. “Just put the gun down, we can talk about this. There’s no need for killing.” Bruce said soothingly. Well as soothing as the Bat voice can get. Which wasn’t really all that soothing, but it was still better than anything that John Winchester had ever tried.

 

He was most likely trying to pacify him. Lure him into a state of calm and talk him down. He knows the drill, he’s done it multiple times. “Ha, as if old man. You really think I’m just going to let this bastard walk away?” he said incredulously.

 

The lazarus rage had all but faded completely now. It was like it knew that he needed to be completely aware for this conversation. This was likely going to settle a lot of things. And everything would come to a head.

 

He was no longer angry, mainly just tired. It seems that Bruce really hadn’t changed. Some small part of him had always held onto the hope that maybe he had changed after his death. Maybe, just maybe, he’d been effected enough that the next time he saw the Joker, or the next time the Joker hurt something he’d called precious to him, he’d act.

 

He knew he liked Tim better than he’d ever liked Jason. And secretly, Jason had been hoping that this would cause Bruce to snap and break his one rule. For once shown that he was human and not forgive the horrible man that was the Joker.

 

But he honestly wanted to _talk it out_? As if that’d actually work. He had tried it on him before with petty criminals in back alley ways. But it hadn’t worked then, so there was no logical reason why Bruce would think that it would work now.

 

It was actually ridiculous, and Jason couldn’t help but let out a disbelieving laugh. Bruce seemed slightly confused - seriously he was supposed to be the best detective in the world and he still couldn’t put 2 and 2 together? His adoptive father was an idiot.

 

“Why do you want to kill the Joker anyway” he tried. He was really making an effort here. Do you hear that? That was sarcasm by the way. This asshole was really trying to save the Joker’s life. Like actually trying.

 

And did he really need to ask that question? Wasn’t it obvious. Of course that was the moment that the Joker decided to pipe up. “Yeah, speaking of that, what the hell did I do?” he asked stupidly. Jason resisted the urge to facepalm.

 

Was the Joker really trying to play innocent here? He was surrounded by idiots.

 

“First of all” he began, oh they were in for it now, it was rant time. “You know full well that I have more than enough reasons to kill you. I’m sure my introductory speech gave you enough information to figure out that I have an intense hatred for you” he said, looking at the Joker.

 

“Second of all” he continued as he pointed at Bruce with his gun, “do I really need to give you a reason? I’m sure you’ve seen more than enough of what he’s done. Or have you forgotten what he did to your second little bird and your third.” he said in an accusing tone.

 

He was so done with Bruce being oblivious to everything. He doesn’t know whether it was the situation, or just the stress of the lazarus rage, but he was seriously pissed and tired. He was not mentally prepared to verbally spar with Bruce at the moment. And the Joker was definitely not helping in any way.

 

“He does have a point Batsy” the Joker said. Jason shook him roughly to get him to shut up. It was time for the adults to talk, and he didn’t appreciate the Joker interrupting. Oh yes, things were definitely going to come to a head tonight.

 

“You shut up” he growled. He was doing way too much growling lately, it was beginning to hurt his vocal chords. He was turning into Bruce, and he did not like that one bit. No sir. This was just not his day.

 

Bruce seemed to have gotten a bit angry at his last statement. “What do you know about Robin? And how do you know my identity?” he yelled. Now that is what killed vocal chords. Yelling in such a deep growl must be _murder_.

 

But he was getting off topic at the moment. Now was not the time to be thinking about how difficult the Batvoice was. “I have no idea how you’re the greatest detective in the world.” he told him honestly.

 

Really, this was just unbelievable at this point. How were they that dense? He actually couldn’t believe it? Was the world completely flipped. “Well, clearly I don’t want to kill your third Robin” he began, because if he had wanted to, he’d had a couple hours to do whatever he’d wanted to Tim.

 

“If I had I already would have” he said bluntly, “and I just want to get rid of this monster. Really, it’s in your best interest to just let me finish my job so you can get back to your bird.” he grumbled. Bruce did not look pleased with his answer.

 

In fact he seemed even angrier. Which technically didn’t make any sense. Why would he be angrier? He’d given him answers. Well apparently it wasn’t the answers he wanted because Bruce yelled even louder “how do you know our identities?”

 

He sighed, he didn’t know what he was doing at the moment. He was sort of just going with the flow of things. He still didn’t quite understand why he hadn’t just shot the Joker and left at this point. They’d spent a good 5 minutes arguing.

 

He could have killed the Joker well over a hundred times in that time. And if he was planning on continuing this conversation, what was he going to do next? Should he risk revealing his identity to answer Bruce?

 

Or should he lie? He could always shoot the Joker and bolt. The chances of Bruce actually chasing after him instead of taking care of Tim were slim. But there was still the chance. And he had to be honest with himself, he was getting invested in this conversation.

 

And he kinda wanted to see Bruce’s reaction.

 

With that thought in mind he decided what he was going to do. He dropped the Joker abruptly, startling Bruce. Normally he would have laughed, the Batman didn’t get startled easily, but the situation had gotten serious again.

 

Luckily it seemed the Joker would be keeping quiet for the time being. He seemed more interested in watching the show than actually interfering. That worked in Jason’s favour. He didn’t drop the gun yet.

 

If Batman reacted violently, then he could always shoot the Joker and run. There wouldn’t be a need to stick around, and he felt kinda naked without having a weapon on him at all times. Sure he had a couple knives tucked away on his person, but if Bruce attacked, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get them out in time.

 

He reached up and began to lift his helmet off. After removing it he gave his head a light shake before running his fingers through his raven black locks. The startling white streaks in the front stood out more now that he’d pushed back his bangs.

  
He raised his head and stared Bruce in the eye, “hello, it’s been a while… dad”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger, I couldn't resist.
> 
> If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment down below! If you like this story please subscribe to get an e-mail notification when I update!


	17. The End of the Joker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... at least this cliff hanger isn't as bad as the last one. I considered letting y'all stew a little bit longer, but I finished the next chapter ...

“Hello, it’s been a while… dad”

 

There, he’d said it. He was still wearing his domino mask so that the Joker wouldn’t be able to know his identity, despite the fact that he didn’t plan on letting the Joker leave this alive. Better safe than sorry.

 

But despite that, he was still clearly recognizable. He’d grown up somewhat, soft baby fat turning into chiseled features. But he wasn’t all that different from when he was 14 and still Batman’s partner.

 

He grinned his trademark grin - there’s actually a story behind that, but long story short, he had been known as the incredibly cocky Robin and he had a smirk that anyone could recognize (he hid it very well as Jason Todd) - and Bruce flinched.

 

Like Dick, he’d laughed to announce his presence. It was Robin’s version of the cape flap. But his had been considerably more sinister, promising pain and vengeance. Yet it also held more confidence than Dick’s had ever. He had been born and raised on Gotham’s streets. Needless to say he was completely comfortable in the city.

 

He definitely knew it better than the thugs they had fought did, and the thugs had realized this. He knew for a fact that the condescending smirk had always pissed Bruce off to no end. But it was also something that was strictly Jason, and no one else could pull it off quite like he did.

 

Dick had grinned, high off the thrill of chasing down criminals. Tim had chosen to go about it in a more stoic manner, choosing not to give the trademark laugh or grin. Jason had smirked. It was probably really unsettling for Bruce to see that smirk on his face again. Especially after he’d left him for dead and went and replaced him.

 

He’d found that guilty parents always were incredibly unsettled at seeing the face of the child or children they’d abandoned. He wondered if John would have a similar reacting to what Bruce was experiencing now.

 

He had changed an awful lot since John had last seen him. His hair colour for one. That also had an explanation. One he wasn’t particularly happy about. But when he’d first started Bruce didn’t want people to know that the Robin had changed, so he dyed his hair.

 

After a while he’d gotten used to the colour and had actually grown fond of it. It separated him from his past. He resented the original reason, but he still found himself touching up his roots every two weeks.

 

The only problem with that was the white streaks in the front. No matter how many times he tried to dye it the fucker just wouldn’t take the dye. He eventually gave up on trying to hide it and now wore it as a proud reminder of what he’d suffered through. Of what he’d conquered.

 

His attitude was also something that would horrify John. He’d lost a lot of his respect for authoritative figures. John had taught him from an early age to always respect him because he was the leader and he knew better.

 

But after being abandoned and betrayed by both of his father figures, he held a certain resentment for them. Hey a kid can only be abandoned so many times before he snapped. He’d probably end up butting heads with John just as much as Sam did.

 

Even though Sam had been young, he would challenge John’s every word whenever he could. No, bad thoughts, don’t think about Sam. It’s just bad memories. Plus there was the whole killing issue. It seemed to be a thing that both Bruce and John had in common.

 

They both thought that killing wasn’t justice. For Bruce, he believed that killing made him, and by extension his adoptive sons, just as bad as the criminals they took down. John believed that killing humans was against what they believed in.

 

He had had no trouble with killing a monster, or anything supernatural. It didn’t matter if they were innocent or not. If they weren’t human they were evil and needed to be exterminated. That was simply the way hunters were.

 

They shot first and asked question later. Most hunters didn’t even bother to ask the questions. Killing a human was an absolute taboo in the hunter world. You simply didn’t do it. Hunters believed that they were getting rid of the scum that was polluting the world.

 

They didn’t stop for a second to ask if the supposed ‘monsters’ were hurting anyone. Or if they were the real monsters. Sometimes, humans were more monster than the supernatural creatures. After all, demons had once been human. Anyway, the point is that he’d changed an awful lot.

 

But still not enough for Batman not to recognize him. Especially now that his voice wasn’t being muffled by the helmet. Bruce probably couldn’t believe his eyes. He had been dead, and people don’t just come back from the dead.

 

It was an odd enough occurrence in the supernatural world, let alone in a world where it was scientifically impossible. And despite working against quite a few magic users in his time, Bruce was and always would be a man of science.

 

He believed that there was always a scientific explanation behind everything. Bruce’s eyes had widened behind the cowl. Normally you wouldn’t be able to tell, the Joker probably couldn’t. But Jason had spent a good 4 years learning Bruce’s tells so that he could understand him even when he was wearing the cowl.

 

He was able to tell by the small shift of the cowl, signifying that his eyebrows had risen slightly. It wasn’t that noticeable of a difference, but Jason was hyper aware of everything that was happening at that exact moment.

 

Despite trying his best to keep his identity hidden from the Batclan, he had to admit it felt incredible to finally reveal just who he was, and how much he’d changed. He wasn’t the still slightly naive boy that had been killed.

 

He’d been changed by the world, and he knew that Bruce felt responsible for that. The guilt for having created a monster would probably eat him alive. He grinned inwardly at the thought. He’d put up a big effort in keeping his identity hidden.

 

But he had grown bored over the past couple of years. There hadn’t been anything exciting - very few break outs, and the ones that had occurred had been dealt with very quickly - he’d grown accustomed to a fast paced life that held danger around every corner.

 

The lack of activity had been driving him mad. Though, he would prefer it over having the Joker torture Tim. His replacement didn’t deserve that, no one did. He knew first hand what it was like to try and recover after the Joker messed with you.

 

Hopefully after this was over Dick would be there for the kid. He’d need the support. Though based off Tim’s usual reaction to things - sure he’d kept tabs on the kid, sue him - he wouldn’t want to ask for help.

 

He’d prefer to deal with the aftermath himself. But Jason knew that wasn’t the way to go about things. Sure he’d had the added lazarus rage and you know, _dying_ tacked on to his already giant problem list, but that didn’t mean that the Joker’s torture affected him any less.

 

But he didn’t worry about it as much as he normally would. He knew for a fact that Dick could be very troublesome if he thought you needed help. Despite the fact that he didn’t even know that the Red Hood was Jason, he’d been pestering him none stop, trying to convince him that killing isn’t the way to go about it.

 

He hadn’t stopped yet either, though the news that he was actually his supposedly dead younger adoptive brother might actually increase his efforts to return the Red Hood to the good side. It was actually very annoying.

 

He had no doubt that it probably annoyed Tim to no end, but it would be good for the kid to have a shoulder to lean on. And more importantly someone to force him to lean on that shoulder. If he was anything like Bruce, or even Dick, he wouldn’t be convinced easily. They all needed to be forced into looking after themselves.

 

They were the reason that Alfred was always so stressed. They worked themselves past their limits all the time. And Alfred was always there to pick up the pieces. He should probably leave a note for Alfred to tell him that he was actually alive.

 

He didn’t want the old butler to find out from Bruce, it wouldn’t end well. And if he did end up being told by Bruce, Alfred still deserved an explanation. He knew for a fat that every year on the anniversary of his death Alfred would visit his grave and leave behind a simple rose.

 

He appreciated the gesture, as Alfred was very important to him. It felt nice to know that he hadn’t been completely abandoned by those that had care for him in his preteen years. And if there was anyone who could completely overlook the fact that Jason killed, and just be grateful that he was alive.

 

He knew that Alfred sometimes frown upon Bruce’s actions towards criminals. His idea of justice leaned a slight bit more towards Jason’s own opinion than Bruce’s. Even Dick agreed that some criminals deserved death. He hadn’t been to happy about the Joker’s continued existence.

 

That was of course before Jason had been killed. He just didn’t like how unpredictable the Joker was, and just how many victims he took before he was shoved right back in his padded cell. He was broken out of his reverie by Bruce finally finding words.

 

“H-how?” he mumbled. Jason’s smirk grew. Oh this was so much better than what he’d expected! But his smirk didn’t last long, and quickly slipped off his face in favour for a deep scowl when the Joker piped up.

 

“Well, if it isn’t the second little birdy! I wondered why you were so caught up on the fate of Robin 2.0!” he said in a mocking tone. Jason gritted his teeth. It seemed the Joker had decided that his silence would no longer suit him. They were probably moving too slow for the crazy clown’s liking.

 

But it seemed the Joker wasn’t done interfering yet, “but my dear Batsy has got it right. How _did_ you survive. I seem to remember a certain Bat burying your body. So how are you here right now?” he asked in a tone that seemed a little over invested.

 

The Joker probably just didn’t like the fact that he had come back. Made himself known, and proved that the Joker didn’t finish the job. He knew the Joker hated loose ends, and him being alive was probably the biggest loose end the Joker had ever had to face.

 

“Well, someone made a deal” he drawled. He wasn’t going to reveal too much about the supernatural, Bruce would probably just assume someone made a deal with Ra’s Al Ghul. The Joker probably wouldn’t think twice about that statement either.

 

He wasn’t going to give the Joker the satisfaction of knowing the truth before his death. But he didn’t want to outright lie to Bruce. Despite all that he’d done, he still held some feelings for Bruce no matter how much he hated it. It made him feel weak.

 

“About a year after my death I had an appointment with the lazarus pit.” he allowed his eyes to flash green for a second. It was visible through the domino mask, and he saw Bruce flinch even more.

 

Good, it was nice to know that the eyes affected him like that. He’d use that against him the next time they crossed paths. “But, why didn’t you say anything?” Bruce demanded. He seemed at a loss as to why Jason hadn’t contacted him.

 

Jason wanted to laugh, that asshole honestly thought that he should have returned. “Well _dad_ , it only took you a total of 6 months to replace me. Forgive me if I didn’t think I would be welcome” he said sarcastically.

 

Bruce seemed to be angry with Jason’s statement. “I didn’t replace you! And you know that you are always welcome. We missed you so much.” he said almost softly, as if he actually cared. But the end of his sentence, whatever had remained of Jason’s smirk had been completely wiped from his face.

 

He raised an eyebrow, “oh really?” he asked in a challenging tone. Well if he was always welcome… his smirk returned as he thought about his next move. His hand still held the gun tightly.

 

Suddenly he spun around and shot the Joker directly in the forehead. He had been too fast for Batman to react. It wasn’t a big fanfare. There was no big splatter of blood, well at least not like in the movies.

 

There was simply a bang, and then the Joker slumped and fell to the floor dead. Dead as a door nail. He felt an immense sense of relief flow through him at the sight of the Joker’s unmoving body. It was finally over, everything he’d worked so hard towards.

  
The Joker was dead and he’d never hurt another person again. But then he tensed right back up as he remembered who his audience was. He turned back to face Bruce again. Pulling a grin that probably looked a bit psychotic, he asked, “so, am I still welcome?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment down below! If you like this story please subscribe to get an e-mail notification when I update!


	18. The Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I just didn't know where to go with this chapter. I kinda had a bit of writer's block. So yeah, this shit chapter is the result. But hey it's a bit longer than most of my other chapters so...
> 
> Oh and Dickie's P.O.V is next! Can't wait for the police's side of things. It's gonna be great (not)

“So, am I still welcome?”

 

He sneered at Bruce. He probably didn’t look all that mentally sound, but in all fairness he’d just killed the Joker. He’d just gotten rid of that piece of scum for good. And he felt fantastic! There wasn’t a hint of remorse, it was like killing a supernatural monster.

 

It was the unmistakable rush of a hunt that he’d been surprised he’d started to miss. It was a different rush from the one he got while patrolling and shooting down common thugs. This one was different. The rush of a hunt was like that of getting rid of monsters.

 

Common thugs were scum underneath his boot. But monsters, monsters were something completely different. They were inhuman, and disgusting. They were the worst type of scum out there. They were bloodthirsty and they killed for fun and without mercy.

 

The only thing that made the Joker different from them was the fact that he didn’t need a specific ritual to be killed. A simple bullet  to the head and he was gone. It wasn’t all that difficult either. He couldn’t believe that it had really been that easy.

 

All of his nightmares are gone! Now there was only Bruce to deal with. Hopefully he’s stunned Bruce enough that Batman won’t be able to react. He might be able to run, but he’d hate to leave his city behind.

 

He may not have been born in Gotham, but it’s where he became who he is. It’s where he grew up, and where he felt most at home. He knew the streets of Gotham like the back of his hand. There was no other place that felt like home to him.

 

He’d be sad to see the city go, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Ever since he was 4 he grew up on the road, well at least until he got left behind. He would be able to travel around. It wouldn’t be that hard to get back into the hunting business.

 

He’d just have to be careful to avoid the law. Sure he was legally dead, but Bruce knew he was alive. If he really put his mind to it, he could track him. He’d have to be careful to not get caught, he was still pretty recognizable.

 

If he showed up on the news as some serial killer, then Bruce would know it was him, and Bruce would hunt him down, because he was technically his responsibility. He doubted anyone else would recognize him, and if they did, it would just mean more trouble for everyone.

 

But going back to hunting wouldn’t be that bad. He could probably convince Bobby to let him stay for a while, before he got back on his feet again. It would be a pity to leave behind all the work he’d done too. He’d spread the word that the Red Hood had killed the Joker, and hopefully that would be enough to keep the fear up despite him no longer making appearances.

 

He could still run the show from long distances, but it’d be risky. He didn’t think that other cities would take too kindly to having the Red Hood around. There was after all, only so many police departments that didn’t try to arrest vigilantes.

 

But this was all assuming that he actually made it out of the warehouse unscathed. There’s no way that Bruce would kill him. Severely maim him maybe, keep him captured sure, but kill him? That is against his one rule, no matter how much ‘bad’ he’d done.

 

But he wasn’t planning on going down quietly. If this went down badly, you're gonna bet that he's gonna fight every step of the way. If he's lucky he'll force Bruce into accidentally killing him. No, he shouldn't be thinking that. It would completely undermine the sacrifice that Missouri had made. He couldn't do that.

 

But Bruce was forcing him into a corner. Well technically he had made his own corner by killing the Joker, but that madman deserved it. He deserved to be gone, and gone forever. He saw no problem with killing. He was just cleaning up the garbage that Batman left behind.

 

But if he didn't get out soon, then he was toast. Bruce still hadn't answered. He had this constipated look on his face. Almost as if he couldn't find the words. Yeah, couldn't find the words to tell him what a failure he is. Sending one last smirk towards Bruce he turned and began to walk away.

 

He turned his head and through out over his shoulder, “you can chase after me and throw me in Arkham, Brucie. But your little bird has just been tortured by the Joker. I suggest you go and get him before he bleeds out. See ya Bruce” then he ran. Not sending another look over his shoulder. He was done waiting for Bruce to accept him.

 

* * *

 

Tim’s world was full of pain. Everything was dark, and there was a dull throbbing. There was a soft texture beneath his fingers. Probably sheets of some sort. And there was a faint beeping in the distance. It was far away, but it was quickly growing on his nerves.

 

He didn't know where he was exactly. But he was obviously hooked up to some sort of heart monitor. There was also the tight feeling of tape on his arm. He probably had multiple IV’s in place. It made sense. Wait… Why did it make sense again? Oh yeah, he was heavily injured.

 

There was a tightness in his chest, and it hurt slightly to breathe. There was a mask on his face. Not a domino mask designed to hide his identity. No it covered his mouth and cut awkwardly into  the sides of his face. It was probably an oxygen mask. That wasn't good, it meant he was more injured than he originally thought.

 

He tried to shift his fingers a bit, testing out his range of movement. But quickly decided that was a bad idea when it sent a spike of pain shooting up his arm. So movement is not that good of an idea. God, how badly was he hurt if moving a finger was agony. He instead focused on maybe moving his head, or at least opening his eyes.

 

His eyes fluttered a bit before struggling open. They felt like they had been glued shut, and all he wanted to do was rub his eyes. But since moving his arms was a no no, he settled for blinking the sleep away. He felt so tired, he hadn't felt like this in a while. He recognized the feeling as the one he got when he was on pain medication.

 

He never liked the feeling and chose to not use it often. It dulled his senses, he never wanted to be caught unaware. He also didn't want to get addicted. What would the media think? Bruce Wayne’s son, a druggie. It was a recipe for disaster, and that wasn't even thinking about the vigilante side of things.

 

But this wasn't the problem at the moment. Now that he had his eyes open he was able to see where he was. Luckily he wasn't in an actual hospital, how would they explain his injuries? It appeared that he was simply in the Batcave's medical bay. Over the years Bruce had collected a decent amount of medical equipment, so they didn't have to go to hospitals and explain ‘spelunking injuries’.

 

Tim couldn't  believe that people had actually believed that excuse when Bruce first started. It was actually appalling that more people hadn't found out that Bruce was Batman. But they'd reached a level of confidence with the city that no one really wanted to find out who the Batman was anymore. Not even the villains. They preferred their little fights, and if the Batman was unmasked that would no longer happen.

 

Speaking of the villains which one was the one to put him in the hospital now? Things had been awfully slow lately, so who could it possibly be? He doesn't get injured this much from a simple mistake or a fall, so he must have been captured by someone. He tried desperately to remember what happened.

 

He searched deep in his mind, trying to find the last thing he remembered. Then there was a flash if bright green and purple… and a large red smile dripping with malice. He jolted in his bed as it all came back to him. The heart monitor began to speed up as he got increasingly distressed.

 

He had been captured by the Joker and tortured for who knows how long. It had felt like days, but it had probably only been a few hours. He had obviously been saved, so Bruce had made it in time. He had made it before the bomb went off, and he joined Jason.

 

Wait Jason. If he remembered correctly - though to be fair that is pretty unlikely considering the fact that he knew he had a head injury, he couldn't really trust his memory - Jason had been there. But how was that possible. Jason was dead. Did he dream him up because he was in the same situation?

 

Was it simply wishful thinking? Had he crossed over for a bit before coming back? Was this even real? Had he actually been saved or is this all a hallucination? Was he dead? He began to get more and more panicked with each mental question. His breathing quickened until he was practically hyperventilating.

 

The heart monitor was going wild and he was on the verge of a full scale panic attack. The beeping of the machine must have alerted someone because only a couple seconds later someone rushed into the room. He flinched back at first, thinking that this had all been too good to be true and the Joker was back for him.

 

Before he realized that it wasn't the Joker. It was a tan man with slightly damp black hair. He was in an old police academy t-shirt and some sweats. Tim was pretty sure the Joker didn't dress like that. The man grabbed his face in between his hands and began to lovingly stroke his cheek. He muttered soothing words and slowly Tim began to calm down.

 

He stared deep into the man’s beautiful blue eyes and he relaxed. This was Dick, and it was no hallucination. His mind could never quite replicate that shade of blue, but it was apparent that this was real. He could feel the warm rough texture of his palms. That along with Dick’s calm and reassuring gaze helped calm him down.

 

Soon the heart monitor reported that he was no longer on. The verge of a panic attack and Dick’s shoulders relaxed. He let out a sigh and briefly let go of Tim’s face to grab a chair. Tim whimpered at the loss of the physical comfort and soon Dick was back, gently stroking his hair. It felt nice. It was great to have such a pleasant sensation after the torture he endured at the hands of the Joker.

 

He leaned into the touch and sighed in relief. Hopefully Dick wouldn't leave him anytime soon. He didn't know if he could handle another panic attack. He was already feeling the repercussions of the first one. His ribs ached and breathing had just gotten a lot harder. He breathed deeply and winced.

 

He obviously hadn't been under that long since his ribs still weren't anywhere near healing. He groaned and swallowed lightly. “W-Wha” he tried before swallowing thickly. His throat was dry, but he didn't think he could handle water at the moment. Dick understood and let him take his time, waiting patiently for Tim to spit out his sentence.

 

“What… happened?” He asked softly. His throat wouldn't allow him to speak up, so he spoke in a whisper. But luckily for him Dick was able to hear him and had an answer. His face looked pained and he rubbed his forehead. He didn't look like he wanted to answer that question.

 

“You were held captive and tortured by the Joker” Dick sighed. Tim deadpanned at him, “no shit” he whispered. Really, of all the first sentences Dick decided to go with that was the one he chose? Dick looked at him with a shocked and an even more pained expression. “So you remember” he muttered in defeat.

 

“You obviously meant after you passed out right?” Dick guessed. “Well, the Red Hood showed up to save you before Bruce could. But the Red Hood isn't just some new criminal. He is Jason Todd” he admitted. Tim was sent for a loop. That had been real? He hadn't imagined it?

 

But how? Why? What had driven Jason to kill? Why hadn't he come back? Tim just wanted to understand. He looked up to the image Jason had left behind. Jason had been the Robin he idolized as a child. “Why” he rasped, trying to convey all of his questions in that single word.

 

Dick looked at him sadly. “Tim, Jason was very angry when he came back. He hated the fact that the Joker was left alive when he'd died. He was hurt that Bruce didn't bother killing the Joker. And that hurt changed him. He never really understood Bruce’s no killing rule, and now that he felt cheated of his own life, he chose to kill.” Dick explained.

 

It didn't really help Tim understand. Sure it explained him having no problems with killing criminals, but what about everything else? At his confused look, Dick began to elaborate, “well Jason grew up in crime alley surrounded by the worst crimes that Gotham has to offer. He grew up with an intense hatred for those who hurt innocents. He was able to hold back most of the rage when he was Robin because he helped protect people.”

 

“But his rage was released when he was killed and his killer was sent back to a place he had proven thousands of times he could escape. Jason felt that no real justice had been served, and it seems he's been hunting down just about everyone else he feels like didn't feel the justice they deserved. He made sure they paid for their crimes.”

 

Dick looked off to the side, “but his end motive was most likely to get rid of the Joker for good.” Tim’s breath caught in his throat. He had been focused on not thinking about what happened to the Joker next. He didn't want to think about the fact that that _creature_  that hurt him would be roaming the streets in but a few short weeks after this.

 

He might actually understand Jason’s need to have the Joker dead. Just thinking about the fact that he's still out there, able to hurt so many more people, makes him sick. He grew slightly bitter, he was the second Robin that the Joker had planned to snuff out. He had succeeded with one, and would have with Tim if the Red Hood - god Jason was actually back, and he might now actually hate him for replacing him - he would have succeeded in killing yet another Robin.

 

But yet Brice probably did nothing but shove him back in Arkham. Maybe he didn't mean as much to Bruce as he'd originally thought either. But then something stuck out to him. Dick had said ‘his end motive most likely _was_  to get rid of the Joker for good’. He'd used past tense. That was not good at all, what had happened to Jason?

 

Did he come back for a few short years only to be killed again? And in the process of saving his sorry ass? If that was true, the guilt would eat him alive. He already felt horrible for having taken Jason’s spot in the family and his position as Robin. (Most people in Gotham thought that he was the second Robin. They never even thought that there had been 2 Robins before him).

 

Then there was the whole fact that he was a part of the reason that when Jason did come back (he would have to ask Dick about that. How was he able to come back from the dead?) he didn't return to them. “Was?” He asked. He needed to know for certain. The uncertainty was killing him. If he finds out the Joker is responsible for Jason’s second death then he was going out and killing the son of a bitch himself.

 

It was the least he could do for Jason, because he knew for a fact that Bruce wouldn't be able to find it in himself to kill that monster. Dick looked confused for a second before he seemed to realize what he was thinking. “No no no!” Dick hurried to explain, waving his hands in front of him.

 

“Jason’s not dead” Tim sighed in relief. Even if Jason was a murderer, it's not like he actually killed anyone innocent. His was still Jason, and he deserved to have a family just as much as Tim did. He didn't want him dead. Then Dick dropped the bombshell, “The Joker is the one that died.”

 

Tim couldn't believe his ears. The Joker was dead. But… Bruce doesn't kill. And if they drew the conclusion that Jason's real goal was to kill the Joker… then Jason got his justice. Jason killed the Joker and saved him. It was just so unbelievable! The Joker was actually gone! He wouldn't kill anyone ever again.

 

Tim could feel safe while going out on patrol. He wouldn't have the constant paralyzing fear attack him every time the Joker escaped. He sank into the the slightly uncomfortable hospital style bed. He may be reassured that nothing too bad happened, but there was still one thing left he needed to know. “What about Jason? What happened after?” he asked.

  
He’d managed the entire phrase, but he was beginning to regret it. One word things were easier, his throat still hurt like a bitch. Dick winced and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, about that”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment down below! If you like this story please subscribe to get an e-mail notification when I update!


	19. Meanwhile at the Police Station...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um hi, so I'm sorry about how these updates are pretty far in between. And I'm sorry to say it might actually get worse in the near future. I'm pretty busy with school, got a shit ton of FSEs and a bunch of exams to study for. I'm pretty stressed out, and while I do greatly enjoy writing this, I just don't have the time right now.
> 
> So until after June, the updates might be a little sporadic. I have no idea when the next update will come or how good the next ones will be. So for those of you who actually read the notes, I'd like to apologize to you as well as thank you for sticking with this story.

It’s been hours, and for some stupid reason, Dick had been unable to find any information whatsoever. It might have had to do with the fact that he was working from the police station. Despite the fact that Gordon knew that he was a vigilante and worked with Batman, the others didn’t.

 

He couldn’t just pull out all the Bat tech. He couldn’t blow his cover, though he was extremely tempted to. His brother was more important, but if Bruce hadn’t found him yet, then there probably wasn’t anything that Dick could do with the shitty station computers.

 

He felt completely helpless. That wasn’t something he’d felt in a long time. Definitely not since Jason had died. Internally he was panicking, time had been passing and no one in the station was doing anything productive! Sure it was the resident vigilante that they should be rescuing, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t worth it.

 

Honestly, the law in Gotham was really not strict about things like that. These damned cops were just prejudice little shits. And really, did Dick expect anything different? But he was getting real nervous.

 

There was only so much time left to save Tim before he blew up and/or kicked the bucket. Dick should be out there trying to save his little brother and fighting alongside Bruce. Not stuck in the stupid police station because Gordon hadn’t made any calls yet.

 

That damned coward, he had no idea who the Bat family really was, but he knew that Robin meant a great deal to Dick. He should have made some call by now, but instead he had chosen to keep all of the cops here, instead of out scouting where they should be.

 

He reasoned that there wasn’t much they would be able to do against the Joker, and that these type of things always came down between Batman and the Joker in the end anyway. They’d just be getting in the way and possibly becoming casualties in the inevitable fight that would ensue.

 

The other cops agreed wholeheartedly with that decision. Some may not want Robin to die, but they were too damned scared of the Joker to want to cross him. Cowards the lot of them. It infuriated Dick to no end.

 

If it was their family they’d probably be itching to get out of there just as much as he was. No, never mind, they’d probably be too scared. It wasn’t like they could really understand why Dick was so invested in this anyway.

 

That would also blow his cover. They couldn’t know that he was Nightwing. It’d just end badly for all of them. It was so stupid. Dick just wanted to storm out of the building, but when he’d tried two hours before, Gordon had merely put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

 

Dick sat back down with a growl. He’d been brooding for a while as he exhausted himself, waiting for answers. He needed to know if Bruce had saved his little brother or not. He honestly didn’t know what he’d do if he ended up losing another to the hands of the Joker.

 

Maybe he’d go and break that one precious rule of Batman’s. Maybe.

 

The office had been deadly silent for over half an hour now. No one dared breathe, much less move, in fear of agitating the already furious rookie cop. Dick’s aura was dark and angry, and no one wanted to face his wrath. He seemed like the type that was incredibly dangerous when angry.

 

Suddenly the silence was broken by a loud ringing noise. It was the ringtone on someone’s cell phone. Dick shot out of his seat and lurched towards his phone that lay innocently on the desk, vibrating. The others, sensing that this was important focused their attention on Dick.

 

He payed them no attention as he frantically answered the call. “What is it?” he asked sharply, eyes wild. There was some low mumbling and then Dick’s shoulders sagged and he collapsed into his chair in relief.

 

He let out a breath and sat forward, scrubbing a hand down his face. “So he’s…” Dick said softly. The others were hard pressed to hear him, but they managed. There was some more gruff mumbling from whoever Dick was talking too, but the other police officers weren’t able to understand it either.

 

Then Dick lurched out of the chair and frantically began to shove things into his bag. Grabbing his jacket he began to walk away from everyone. Then he heard something from whoever was calling him and he froze.

 

“J-Jason?” he whispered. Then he got an even more frantic look on his face and said a quick “I’ll be there as soon as possible” before hanging up. He began to walk even faster out of the office but Gordon called out for him to stop.

 

Dick turned and glared at him “What?” he growled. The commissioner looked slightly taken aback. He stared at Dick with a puzzled expression. “Son, where are you going?” he asked him. He looked a bit nervous, as if he was afraid that Dick would lash out at him.

 

“I’m having a bit of a family issue. Someone that we had previously thought had been killed has just come home. Forgive me if I’m leaving early to make sure this isn’t some goddamned joke” Dick growled. He turned sharply on his heels and ran out of the police station, slamming the door on his way out.

 

* * *

 

Dick hopped onto his motorcycle and began to drive well past the speed limit back to Wayne manor. The excuse that he had given Gordon seemed to work, considering the fact that no one bothered to go after him.

 

He continued to speed towards the manor, increasing his speed as he got closer and closer to his destination. He was anxious to find out what had happened. All that Bruce had told him was that he’d found Tim.

 

And that Jason Todd had been the one to save him.

 

As soon as Dick had heard that Tim had been rescued he’d felt relieved. He immediately planned on returning to help take care of Tim, but then Bruce had said who had saved Tim. Honestly, Dick couldn’t really believe it.

 

Sure it explained a lot, but it wasn’t possible. People don’t just come back from the dead… But what other explanation was there? The Red Hood had been slipping lately, revealing little things about himself.

 

Revealing he knew the Batclan’s identity, calling Dick by his nickname. Looking back on it, it all seemed incredibly obvious. At the time, he hadn’t wanted to jump to conclusions. But the man had seemed to know too much.

 

His movements had seemed too familiar. It wasn’t right, and it had been nagging at Dick’s conscious for a while now. The way he reacted to certain things, his problem with Bruce, the fact that he actually communicated with Dick.

 

It all made sense now. But that didn’t stop Dick from wondering why. Why had he come back? Why hadn’t he just returned to the manor? And most importantly, why had he gone to the trouble to save Tim?

 

Sure Dick was happy that Jason was alive. If the situation wasn’t what it was, he would either be jumping in joy or sobbing in relief. But Tim was injured, the Joker was on the loose, and his supposedly dead brother was the new kingpin of crime in Gotham.

 

It was just a recipe for disaster. And all things considered, Jason should hate Tim. Should hate Batman. Well he does, but he should be incredibly angry at the fact that Tim replaced him. Dick wasn’t going to lie to himself.

 

He knew how it looked. How it had looked to Jason. Only 6 months after his death and there was a new little bird running around. That wouldn’t sit right with Dick either. It hadn’t when he’d been replaced. But at least he hadn’t died, he’d chosen to leave the nest. Jason hadn’t.

 

And it wasn’t even 6 months after either. Bruce had waited an entire year before he’d let Jason out of the manor. He hadn’t even thought of having Jason as a Robing until he’d been letting the kid live with them for 10 months.

 

He’d had plenty of time to adjust to the idea of having a replacement, someone else to fill the role of Robin since he’d moved on. But to Jason coming back from the dead, probably expecting to be welcomed back with open arms, this would seem like the ultimate betrayal.

 

Jason had become incredibly attached to his role as Robin, especially considering his past. Sometimes Dick even thought that the role of vigilante had suited Jason better than it did himself at that age. Jason had thrived at being able to help the defenseless people of Gotham.

 

But some kid had taken his spot, and he was being used as a cautionary tale for all sidekicks out there on what happens when you get caught. On what happens when you fail. And Bruce went full out with Tim’s protection too.

 

Updating tech and gear almost constantly to make sure his new little bird never got hurt. Heck, the worst injuries the kid got was during training. It was almost ridiculous. But to Jason, it would look like he’d been replaced with someone that Bruce thought was better.

 

It didn’t help that Bruce adopted him as well, right after his own parents died. He was his son, and he was doing more for him than he’d ever done for Jason. Dick could understand why Jason would feel jealous about the whole ordeal.

 

And the way that Bruce reacted to things doesn’t exactly help either. He’d probably put his foot in his mouth and said something stupid. It was typical Bruce behavior to completely misunderstand everything. And make a bigger mess out of his past mistakes.

 

He’d never really been able to connect with Jason. They’d never really been that close, but Dick had always know that Bruce had loved them. But Dick knew that Jason hadn’t really felt all that loved during his younger years.

 

Being replaced is not helping that _at all_. Bruce was already awkward (not having known how to deal with someone of Jason’s personality type) and the fact that he replaced Jason after his death did not do anything to convince Jason that he meant anything to him.

 

It was a pretty messed up situation. Either way, Dick needed more information about what happened. He knew that Tim and Bruce would be waiting for him at the manor, but what about Jason? Would he be there? And what had happened after Bruce arrived?

 

Had Jason run away after seeing Bruce? Where was the Joker? There was so much left unanswered and it made Dick nervous. Now that he thought about it, Bruce hadn’t really given all that much information. Sure there was some issues about telling him anything sensitive over the phone - secure lines blah blah blah - but he really had no idea what he was getting into at this point. Just great.

 

He _finally_ arrived at the manor and all but dumped his bike in a rush to get to the Batcave. He arrived to a relatively peaceful scene. Not at all like what he was expecting. Well he didn’t exactly know what he was expecting, but that’s beside the point.

 

There was a hospital bed set up with a bunch of machines surrounding a pale body. Tim lay unmoving on the bed, but the steady beating of the heart monitor told Dick that he was still alive. Most likely sedated so he didn’t have to deal with the pain. He had been beaten pretty badly.

 

He could hear some distant shuffling, probably just Alfred making something in the kitchen. Bruce probably hadn’t eaten since he’d found out that Tim had been kidnapped by the Joker. Speaking of Bruce, he was sitting next to Tim’s hospital bed with his head in his hands.

 

He wasn’t moving much, the only noticeable movement was the slight trembling in his shoulders. It betrayed his emotions. There was a red helmet sitting in his lap that Dick recognized as the Red Hood’s. His heartbeat quickened, why did Bruce have Jason’s helmet?

 

“Bruce” Dick said softly. Bruce jumped and turned to face Dick with a surprised look on his face. It was there for a fraction of a second before Bruce tried to put his mask back on.

 

His stoic expression wasn’t as perfect as it usually was, there were cracks around the edges letting Dick know just how much this entire situation was affecting him. He walked towards the bed slowly and knelt down beside Bruce so that he was eye level with the man.

 

“What happened?” He asked softly. Bruce shot his a look filled with deep sorrow and a slight bit of desperation. He hung his head in defeat as he began to talk, clutching the red helmet tightly to his chest.

 

* * *

 

“Yeah, about that”

 

He didn’t know how to answer Tim. He was still unclear as to what the answer was himself. “Well, as you know Jason was pretty angry at Bruce. At all of us” he began. It was a pretty shitty place to start, but there wasn’t really all that much that he could tell Tim.

 

“He had been talking with Bruce before he killed the Joker. Bruce was trying to let Jason know he’d always be welcome. It seemed to set him off… and he went and shot the Joker execution style without a second thought” Dick winced. Looking up he was surprised to see Tim’s satisfied look.

 

That certainly wasn’t what he was expecting. Tim should be looking apprehensive or nervous. Possibly frightened by the fact that Jason killed the Joker without any hesitation. But instead Tim looked… happy. Like this was an ideal outcome.

 

“After killing the Joker, he asked Bruce if he was still welcome. Bruce didn’t answer right away, and Jason being Jason, took that as a rejection and took off” Dick finished. At this, Tim’s eyebrows furrowed. He seemed displeased with this piece of information.

 

“We need to find him” Tim mumbled sleepily, “he deserves to be a part of this family. It’s where he belongs” Tim said as he fell asleep. His eyes closed and he was dead to the world. Dick smiled softly at his relatively kind hearted brother.

  
“I know”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'd like to thank you guys again for how nice you all are. It really mean a lot to me that you read this and take the time to comment on my story. It really warms my heart and encourages me to continue this. 
> 
> I know some of you might actually be getting a bit tired of all the shit that I'm spewing. I'd like to assure you that I'm trying to hurry it up. I just have to get through them finding Jason and getting him to accept the Bat family again. It will probably be another 3 chapters of that, and maybe like 2 chapters of JayDick fluff to establish that relationship. And then after that there will be a timeskip so that we can get a move on and introduce the supernatural shit to this story. 
> 
> I never imagined that the beginning would be so long. Originally I thought that this beginning part would end up being like 4 chapters long. So I'm sorry about that. Anyway thank you, and I hope you can be patient with me.
> 
> You know the drill. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment down below! Also, if you are enjoying this story and can't wait for the next chapter, please subscribe to get email updates when this story is updated.


	20. Finding Jason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's been a while. Sorry, But exams are only a month away. I got 5 exams to study for and at least a dozen different projects. It's such bullshit and I hate school. I just know that I failed my FSE essay. God it was horrible. And that's why you are getting a chapter! I'm in post essay submission depression so I decided to write my feelings. Very productive honestly, you should try it.
> 
> That's also my explanation for why this is trash. I'm kinda in a writing funk, but the show must go on!

They didn't see Jason again until a couple of months later. It was as if he just disappeared. Sure his gang - followers, goons, whatever you wanted to call them - still carried out orders. But the big boss himself never made an appearance. They didn't know if he had run away or was simply hiding in Gotham.

 

When they asked the members of the Red Hood’s organization where the man himself was, they always responded with ‘away’. Never anything different. Even when trying to… persuade them to give more information they didn't give up anything useful. Some of the weaker ones caved and claimed that they hadn't seen him either.

 

They just got their orders and carried them out. They didn't ask questions and life was ok for them. The Red Hood certainly paid them well enough that they were able to support their families. And so that they didn't go after children. Honestly, it was a win win for everyone. But the only problem with his absence was that they desperately needed to talk to him.

 

Tim was almost completely healed now. There was only some light scarring where the cuts ran a little too deep. And the fact that his ribs were still very sore. He was able to return to school and the public eye, but both Bruce and Dick thought it was a bad idea for him to try and go out on Patrol. Not that much would actually happen during patrol anyway.

 

It seemed to be an unspoken rule now with the small petty criminals that they didn't cross any of Gotham’s vigilantes. Most of the homeless with a legit past got accepted by the Red Hood. He put them to work and gave them enough money to be able to look after themselves.

 

It was unfortunate that he got this money through dealing drugs and other stuff overseas and throughout Gotham, but at least crime rate was down. You’d think that the big baddies, Batman’s villain gallery, would be causing more trouble now that the Red Hood was gone.

 

But somehow, word had gotten out that the Joker had been killed, shot in the head execution style. Most villains had heard about how he had kidnapped a Robin and gotten killed for it, so many were very nervous to even go near the younger heroes.

 

Dick’s friend Wally was complaining about how Central Cities gallery of rogues had gotten incredibly nervous about touching him when he was Kid Flash. Said they’d heard about what had happened to the Joker.

 

They didn’t want the Red Hood after them. There was now many many rumors about who the Red Hood was. Some claimed he was Batman’s failed protege. Others thought that he was Robin’s or even Nightwing’s boyfriend that had come to the rescue. Either way, he was now known as the protector of the young heroes. And a formidable one at that. He's willing to kill, and if you want to keep your head you'll stay away from the sidekicks.

 

The other heroes (mainly Flash) that had sidekicks certainly weren't complaining. They didn't want their partners to get hurt, especially after the death of Jason Todd had reached their ears. Sure they were unsettled by the fact that he killed, but he was protecting people, so they turned a blind eye. Especially since Bruce was so invested in the Red Hood.

 

They tended to steer clear of anything Bruce did in fear of upsetting the Bat. But that was another thing, they didn't know the identity of the Red Hood. Only the Bats did. They didn't want it spreading to the League, it would just make things messier that they already were. Gotham was calm, and the other heroes were content with that. They didn't want to look the gift horse in the mouth.

 

But we all know that that's what Bruce does the best. He’d been looking for Jason the entire time. Not sleeping and eating very little. The only times he stopped his search was when Alfred or Dick convinced him to. Once Tim was better - able to work without injuring himself further - he began to help with the search. He wanted to find the man that saved him.

 

The man that he had looked up to. Well he still does look up to. Normally Bruce would be worried about Tim looking up to a murderer, but he was too worried about finding his wayward son to worry about bad influences. They all wanted Jason to come home, but it was like he’d completely disappeared. He was nowhere to be found. It was frustrating to say the least.

 

But after months and months of searching, they finally found him. He had been staying in Gotham for a couple of days - they suspected that he did this every couple of months to make sure that his followers were doing their jobs - when they managed to find him. But when they did find him, it wasn't out of careful planning and observation. Dick literally bumped into him in the supermarket.

 

Usually Alfred does the shopping, but Dick had returned to both his job and his own apartment, which was heavily under stocked. He had been deciding on what type of bread to buy (don't hate, there's way too many types of bread to choose from) when he saw a flash of black and white pass by. Turning around so fast he almost got whiplash, he was able to see a tall man, though clearly still a teenager, in a leather jacket making the decision on what cheese he'd like.

 

He looked nervous, his shoulders stiff and his body poised to bolt at a seconds notice. Dick felt a wide grin spread across his face at the sight of his formerly deceased brother. He dropped a random type of bread in his cart and began to walk purposefully towards Jason. He didn't want to scare him away by running towards him. Jason already looked ready to bolt, he didn't want him to actually run.

 

As soon as he was about 5 feet away from who he thought was Jason he stopped and gasped “Jason?”  He didn't want to be wrong, the teen’s reaction would tell him if he was right or not. He was almost 100% sure, but they had been wrong before. (They scared the crap out of some random teen, but that's a story for another day.)

 

The teen stiffened even more. His broad shoulder rose slightly and his stance widened into a fight or flight stance. He was prepared for anything, whether he needed to protect himself and attack or flee the scene. Jason may be headstrong, but he does know when to back down and retreat.

 

Dick felt a spark of hope, this was the type of reaction they were looking for. Not every teen had this reaction to having been ‘mistaken’ for someone, not even the ones in Gotham. They were sloppy, not well trained.

 

They often jumped and pulled out a pathetic pocket knife in hopes of fighting off whoever wanted them or who they thought they were. But no, this teen’s stance was experienced, and trained. The instantaneous reaction shows that he’s built up his reflexes.

 

He turned around lightning fast, almost fast enough that they drew eyes towards them. Dick grinned as he saw his formerly dead brother’s face for the first time since he’d died. During the fight, he’d worn his helmet. Dick hadn’t seen his face, but it was incredible to see his brother’s face, his eyes.

 

The last time he’d seen his little brother face to face was when they were both in costume. He’d been ranting about being treated like a little kid. He’d been in costume, complete with the mask that hid his eyes.

 

Dick remembered being disappointed that hadn’t been able to see Jason’s eyes more often. His eyes were beautiful. They were unlike anything that he’d seen before, not quite blue and not quite green. It was a beautiful sea green, almost unnatural in appearance. They shone with flecks of silver, only increasing its similarity to ocean water.

 

Now they shone with fear, something that Dick had never seen in Jason’s eyes. Ever. It was something so foreign that he stumbled backwards slightly at the blatant emotion in his eyes. Jason had never been an expressive person, he always hid behind a facade.

 

You could never really tell what he was thinking, but sometimes his eyes gave stuff away. Dick had only seen a genuine look in his eyes a few time. It was a pretty rare thing. He’d seen bravado, courage, exhilaration, shame, guilt, anger, and even uncertainty. But he’d never once seen fear in his eyes.

 

It was just so _wrong_ to see it there now. Not facing the Joker, his killer. No, he saw fear in Jason’s eyes when he was facing his _brother_ . His _family_. There was something so wrong with that, it made Dick feel horrible.

 

What had they done to Jason that could instill _fear_ in his gaze. Dick pressed on anyway, Jason was there now. Nothing else mattered other than bringing Jason home. “Is that really you?” he asked softly even though after one look at his eyes he knew.

 

He took a closer look at his little brother. Looking past the outfit, he didn’t look all that different from what he looked like before he died. He was still clean shaven - the preferred Wayne look, Alfred said it made them look more professional (and they couldn’t be recognized because of unique facial hair) - which gave him a youthful look.

 

He looked around 18 years old, barely legal. Despite the youthful appearance he had barely any baby fat left, he was all jaw and cheekbones. His hair was unruly and there was a little tuft of bright white in his bangs.

 

Jason’s eyes widened, “Dick” he said. His voice was thick, like he was struggling to hold in his emotions. “I-” he began, but then he seemed to realize something. The look of panic returned to his eyes and he turned as if to walk away.

 

Dick panicked internally. Should he reach out and stop Jason? It’d make a scene and it might cause Jason to panic even more, but it’d stop him from leaving and disappearing. But if he let him go, there’s a big chance that they might never see him again.

 

He decided the scene would be worth it as long as he didn’t lose his brother so soon after getting him back. He reached forward and grabbed Jason’s arm. “Don’t go” he said desperately. Jason hesitated and froze. He was in the middle of taking a step away, and the position was rather awkward.

 

Dick’s eyes flickered around to see the reactions of those around him. He was well known in this area as John Blake, he was friendly with everyone. Most people liked him, and the fact that he’d pulled something like this was bound to draw some questions sooner or later. He hadn’t exactly hid his sexuality (he was proud of who he was after all) but he didn’t exactly tell anyone.

 

The rumors of him and some mysterious biker were bound to reach his superiors at some point. He had no idea whether the idiots he called co-workers would have a problem or not, but he didn’t exactly look forward to finding out.

 

“We just got you back Jay” he said, pulling on Jason’s sleeve, “don’t make us lose you again.” Dick didn’t believe that it was possible, but Jason got even more tense. That could _not_ be good for him. “Please, Little Wing” he pleaded. He couldn’t lose him when he was so close to getting him back.

 

Jason relaxed and turned towards Dick with his mouth open, as if to respond. But Dick didn’t give him the chance. As soon as Jason had turned to face him he was pulling him in for a hug. Crushing Jason’s slightly smaller frame to his body. Rumors be damned, his brother was here and _alive_.

 

He bent his head down and buried it in Jason’s chest. He breathed in his scent, trying to memorize everything about Jason. He felt tears begin to form in his eyes, and he wasn’t the least bit ashamed to say that he let out a slightly heartbroken sob.

 

“I thought you were _dead_ Jaybird. You were dead” he said after a moment of silence. Well silence for them, they were in a public place after all. “I had to find out that you were alive from _Bruce,_ Jay.” That seemed to be the wrong thing to say.

 

Formerly relaxed Jason who had just wrapped his arms around Dick in an attempt to comfort the lightly shaking man, just tense right up again. Good job Dick. His arms had tightened around Dick, making the previously comforting hold uncomfortable.

 

“Dick” he sighed, burying his nose in Dick’s shoulder, “I’ve killed. You know full well I won’t be welcomed back” he mumbled. Dick mentally rolled his eyes. Was he serious? Did he honestly think that him killing the Joker - well there _was_ a lot of others that he’d killed, but that wasn’t the point - would make a difference?

 

“Jay, you came back from the dead. We don’t care how, all that we care about it the fact that you’re _here_ and _alive_ . That’s all that matters. Just _come home._ ” he said softly. The arms that were wrapped around him tightened. There was wetness against his shoulder. Was Jason crying?

  
“Ok” he whispered, his voice cracking.

“Ok”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw, everything that I put in will eventually make sense, I promise. Though, I might not remember everything, I don't like to read my own work. A whole bunch of self esteem issues. Ah well.
> 
> Anyway, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment below. (Please do, I truly enjoy hearing about what you have to think about this story! I also kind want to have a fluffy little chapter befor everything goes to hell, so any ideas are really appreciated.) If you would like to receive an email whenever I update, pls subscribe.


	21. Time Skip!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for my lazy writing. Finals are literally a week away and I am nervous as hell. Studying so hard right now. I just finished this chapter and I know it's shitty. But I just want to get this part of the story over with. There will be like 1 more chapter and then yet another time skip. Look forward to it my friends!!!
> 
> Oh and I made Tim a fangirl. Deal with it.

And now we’re all caught up to the present. The reunion with the Batfam went as expected; there was a lot of tears shed on everyone’s part. After a big meltdown of a reunion Bruce insisted he move back into the manor.

 

Secretly that was what Jason wanted, so he put up a very pathetic fight. He moved in within the week. For the first 2 months after that Dick refused to let him out of his sight. He went with him everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. He even went with him to the bathroom; it was an uncomfortable experience for both of them.

 

He was scared Jason would take off again, deciding that the family life wasn’t for him. He just got his brother back, he wasn’t prepared to lose him again. He got incredibly clingy to the point where Tim had once caught Jason walking around the kitchen with Dick hanging off of him like a monkey.

 

He had been sworn to secrecy, but that didn’t stop him from sending a picture of it to Bruce. The first month it happened it was considered cute. But as the time dragged on and Dick insisted upon staying with Jason every chance he could (he did have to go to work at one point if he wanted to keep his job), it began to get awkward.

 

Dick normally wasn’t this clingy, and it had begun to affect their everyday lives. It was ridiculous, but it took a lot of bribery on Jason’s part to even get Dick to go to work. Dick had been ready to quit his day job, claiming he’d much rather make up for lost time with his ‘Little Wing’.

 

If that didn’t sound like an innuendo than Tim doesn’t know what does. To him, it was quite clear that Dick’s feeling of love weren’t purely innocent. Brothers may be annoying at times, but they didn’t literally climb all over you all of the time. It wasn’t just the excessive cuddling, they could excuse that as just a Dick thing. He was a pretty touchy feely type of guy.

 

But Dick also went out of his way to try and make Jason feel welcome. He helped Alfred make his favourite foods - eventually being kicked out of the kitchen due to his sub par cooking skills - he made sure no one triggered any of Jason’s bad memories or said anything about what happened to Jason when he was in his presence (which was all the damn time) and he got incredibly defensive whenever Tim tried to spend any time with Jason.

 

He just wanted to get to know the guy that saved his life, you know? Plus he was the Robin that he held to hero worship for. He kinda wanted to get to know his idol, the reason he decided he wanted to become Robin in the first place.

 

Jason had gotten to know Dick, it was only fair that Tim got to know Jason. But Dick didn’t see it that way. Dick for some odd reason deemed him a threat to Jason. In what way was still unclear. He made sure that Jason spent very little time with Tim - which actually seemed to be getting on Jason’s nerves now that he thinks about it, (the inner fanboy in him was squealing at the possibility that Jason might actually want to spend time with him) - and when he did Dick was always there to do damage control.

 

It was annoying to say the least. Dick was incredibly overprotective of Jason, and Tim suspected one of the reasons that Dick was completely not chill about him talking to Jason was due to the fact that he was his replacement.

 

That was an incredibly awkward situation that no one wanted to approach yet, so they ignored it for now. Jason never said anything about wanting his old position as Robin or wanting Tim to no longer be Robin, so Tim continued to be Robin. It was pretty simple really.

 

But that was also a problem that they’d run into. The fact that Jason didn’t stop his nightly activities. Bruce and Jason had obviously worked out something, but even Bruce could see that Gotham was better off with how Jason ruled the underworld. There was less crime, and one shouldn’t fix something that isn’t broken right? Don’t look the gift horse in the mouth.

 

But that didn’t mean that Bruce didn’t make it abundantly clear that he didn’t like the fact that Jason still used guns. He frowned upon it, but he let it slide because Jason had stopped killing as soon as he’d returned to the Bat brood.

 

It was slightly uneasy treaty, but Bruce valued having Jason with them more than he did making sure Jason played by every rule and became the perfect vigilante. He knew that wasn’t his character. Even as Robin he’d been a bit more reckless and angry that Dick ever had.

 

He’d been ready to do anything for the justice he thought people deserved. And Tim had to say that he honestly agreed with some of Jason’s ideas. He understood that they were the good guys, so they shouldn’t kill. But this was Gotham, and nothing was ever black and white in Gotham. Shouldn’t they learn to adapt?

 

But Tim was in no position to argue. Things were ok as of right now, and he didn’t want to mess with any of that. He was just glad that Jason was back, even though Dick hogged him all of the time.

 

But that’s another thing, Dick is constantly tailing Jason whenever they went out on patrol. And no matter how Jason tried (and he did try), he couldn’t shake him. Dick even showed up at Jason’s meeting with those underneath his command. Dick still seemed content to hide behind his excuse of ‘making sure that Jason doesn’t run away’.

 

But Dick couldn’t fool Tim. If he’d learned anything from shitty high school romances and TV shows, he’d learned what pining looked like. And Dick had one of the worst cases of pining he’d ever seen, and Barbara had forced him to watch a bunch of chick flicks. (If he’d gotten addicted after that then no one needed to know.)

 

It was actually pathetic. On multiple occasions Tim had tried to confront Dick, but it was incredibly difficult. Dick was heavily in denial and it didn’t seem like he would be getting out of it any time soon. And that’s when operation “JayDick” began.

 

Yeah, real original, Tim knows how cliche that sounds. Giving a couple name to the operation was really really dorky, but as soon as he’d told Barbara about his suspicions, she jumped at the chance to get them together.

 

If you’ve ever met a fangirl you know that as soon as they see two people (especially two guys) who have even the slightest chance of getting together, they immediately begin to ‘ship’ them. Tim is guilty of falling into that downward spiral. He was horrified the first time he’d uttered the phrase ‘I ship it’. But now he’d gotten used to it.

 

When Barbara had heard that there was a slight chance that Dick might be in love with Jason, she’d squealed loudly. Pretty soon she was just as invested in their possible relationship as Tim was. Tim wanted Dick to be happy, and he wanted Jason to truly feel comfortable around them again.

 

He knew that Jason felt pretty awkward around everyone still, perhaps because he’d killed and broken that one precious rule that they were all told to obey when they became Robin. It’s no wonder that he felt awkward around them. Dick was overly clingy - admittedly he was usually clingy, but he was somehow worse now - Tim was awkward (but can you really blame him?) and Bruce avoided him.

 

When he did talk to Jason, it was an incredibly awkward conversation with more pauses than actual dialogue. Needless to say, in Jason’s place Tim would also try and avoid those conversations. Even Barbara acted weird around them. But to be fair, it was that type of fangirl squeal that you make when you see your otp.

 

The only one who actually acted normal around both Jason and Dick was Alfred. Which in itself was no surprise. What was a surprise though was when Alfred joined them (Tim and Barbara) for one of their lunches where they discussed what they should do about Jason and Dick.

 

He seemed to be in the same opinion about Jason and Dick as they were. Sharing stories with them about Jason and Dick before Jason died. He claimed that young Jason had developed an adorable little crush bordering on hero worship for Dick.

 

He had tried to encourage them to make a move, but at the time Jason was only 14 and Dick was 19. The age gap was a little awkward when they were still young teens. Dick had just been finishing up high school while Jason was just starting. It didn’t help that Dick was almost never home at that time. Too busy with Nightwing duties and being awkward with Bruce.

 

But Alfred still claimed there had been chemistry. It was pretty hard to imagine a young Jason mooning over a teenage Dick, but they let it be, because Alfred is always right. It’s something they all learned the hard way while they were beginning their days as one of Batman’s proteges.

 

Still, this only cemented the fact that they belonged together. Barbara liked the idea that they were essentially high school sweethearts. When Tim tried to argue that that wasn’t what high school sweethearts were, she hit him over the head and he shut up for the rest of the meeting.

 

He had to agree that it was cute, but was Dick interested at that age? Or is it a recent thing? And was Jason interested now? It seems like Alfred had all of the answers to this as well. On one Sunday meeting they had to discuss all of the evidence they’d gathered so far, Alfred shared with them a story from Jason’s time as Robin.

 

Apparently Dick had been pretty distant at first, but one night he’d been there to witness an argument with Bruce. Tim winced at that piece of the story. He knew just how bad Bruce could be when you disobeyed (he _had_ received a lecture from Bruce when he’d woken up) his orders.

 

And that wasn’t even the worst. Dick had also shared some horror stories with him when he’d first become Robin. Looking back on the massive effort Dick had made to connect with him during his early days, he can’t help but think that Dick was trying to do what he hadn’t with Jason.

 

After witnessing Bruce yell at a 13 year old Jason because of some stupid rapist that had fallen off a roof, he chose to talk to the semi distraught boy. Alfred had been about to step in, but he’d seen the hero worship that Jason held for Dick and thought it best that the boy’s hero be the one to comfort him.

 

Apparently after that they’d hit it off. And honestly, Tim could see that happening. Tim had seen Jason in action when he was Robin. He knew how bright and brilliant he had been. How gleeful he was when he took down thugs. But he also knew how dark of a Robin he’d been. He’d seen him be just a bit too violent and up front with the thugs they fought in back alleys.

 

So Tim had taken a more flighty approach to avoid causing Bruce to see him as Jason. But sometimes, that little bit of darkness, that _passion_ , was what drew you to him. He was so passionate in everything that he did. He threw himself into protecting others, and that admirable.

 

Dick had always seemed like the type to want a hero. He was such an optimist, and only someone who loved protecting innocents as much as he did would do. Jason certainly had the passion, and Tim knew for a fact that he was Dick’s type.

 

Unfortunately he’d walked in on Dick watching porn. Definitely not an experience he’d like to repeat. But from what he’d seen before he’d run down the hall screaming for mind bleach, the guys that had been on the screen had held a striking resemblance to Jason. He seemed to like the slightly more muscular build, but still lean and flexible. Coincidentally, that’s also how he found out that Dick was gay.

 

But there was still Jason to think about. Did he have an interest in Dick? Or was he just tolerating Dick because they were family. (That was also a major thing. Like they’re brothers? Isn’t that a bit weird. Barbara had immediately shot him down with the logic that they were both _adopted_.) It was hard to tell with Jason.

 

He was usually stoic, or mildly annoyed considering the fact that Jason was with Dick all of the time. It was amusing to see him get annoyed, but despite that he still tolerated Dick. And if he still had the feelings from when he was a teen - though Tim wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t - then there was a good chance that if they got their heads out of their asses they could get together and live happily ever after.

 

“So we’ve established that they _have feelings_ for each other. But what are we supposed to do about it?” he asked while taking a sip of tea. It was one of their weekly lunches and Alfred was taking a break to sit and discuss with them.

 

“I think we should just lock ‘em in a room together and tell ‘em to fuck” Barbara said decisively while taking a bite out of one of the cookies Alfred had provided. Tim nearly spit out his tea. Since when was Barbara so vulgar?!

 

“Shouldn’t we just tell Dick to ask Jason out? They’re practically dating already, they just need to make it official” he said after a moment. It took a bit of time to recover after a comment like that. Alfred looked slightly scandalized as well, but that was probably only because it was Barbara. Jason had been swearing up a storm, so Alfred had gotten used to the cussing and given up on trying to make Jason stop.

 

But then Tim heard a voice from behind him and he saw both Barbara’s and Alfred’s eyes widen.

“Who is already practically dating?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always; if you have any comments, questions, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to leave a comment down below! If you would like to get an e-mail notification every time this story gets yet another horrid chapter, feel free to subscribe!
> 
> I always appreciate comments! Y'all are so nice and it's really uplifting!


	22. Opperation JayDick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm lame and haven't written in like forever. Sorry about that. But next chapter will not end until JayDick is established, so there's that to look forward to. 
> 
> Anyway, I appreciate all of the lovely comments you leave.

Tim froze in pure terror. The one thing he’d been dreading the most when he’d started this ‘club’ thing was being finding out. And now it’s coming true. He turned around and resisted the urge to lie. It wasn’t like it would do anything.

 

He saw Bruce standing there and he let out a little breath. It was only Bruce. It could have been Dick or god forbid Jason, that walked in on their conversation.

 

But then he tensed right up again. It was _Bruce_ who'd discovered them. It was the _overprotective father_. They were so screwed! “Um…” He said trying to find an excuse, sending panicked looks towards both Alfred and Barbara. They offered no assistance.

 

He glanced back at Bruce only to see that he'd raised his eyebrow at him. Oh no, he knew that Tim was going to try and lie his way out of this. Tim was horrible at lying. It was something that they were working on.

 

He hung his head in shame and blurted out the truth, because what else could he do? “Jason and Dick” he admitted in defeat. Bruce’s other eyebrow rose to join the first.

 

“Really now” he said, his voice tinged with disbelief. He looked very surprised - well as surprised as the goddamned Batman can look - and shot glances at all three of them. Well mainly at Tim and Alfred because he'd been a victim of Barbara’s attempt at matchmaking before and knew how that girl got attached to pairings.

 

Alfred just nodded his head and began to pass out more food calmly. “I’m certain that you remember Jason's little infatuation with Dick, Master Bruce” he said evenly. “Would you like to join us? We were discussing how we were going to get them to finally admit their feelings.”

 

Bruce froze in place for a moment, and Tim was afraid that he’d flip out, but then he realized Bruce would never do that. But that thought didn’t actually do anything to make him any less nervous about Bruce’s reaction to what Alfred said.

 

But then Bruce did something he never imagined. He simply pulled up another chair and sat down as if he’d been there since the beginning. “Well, then what have we planned so far?” he asked with a small smirk on his face. Tim’s jaw dropped.

 

* * *

 

Jason was actually having a fairly decent day. It was pretty surprising considering his life. But he was enjoying it for what it was knowing that tomorrow would most likely be horrible. Something was bound to happen, nothing good happened in his life without something massively negative happening the next.

 

It was frustrating, the world seemed to be out to get him. But he rolled with the punches because there wasn’t exactly much he could do. If God wanted to take a shit on him then God can go fuck himself.

 

The one problem (well if he was going to be completely honest, there was way more than one problem) with knowing that the supernatural was out there and that literally _all_ of the gods existed, was that when you had bad luck, you knew someone out there was thinking _‘fuck you’._

 

Anyway, Jason was having a good day. He’d gotten a good handle on his followers, so Gotham’s crime rate was remaining at a manageable level. The police seemed to be semi-tolerant of his people and the fact that they took care of crime.

 

They worked together decently enough, meaning that they didn’t bother his people and his people did their best to stay under the radar. It is actually fabulous, though he might shoot himself for using that word to describe anything related to Gotham.

 

But that’s not all that has actually been going well for Jason recently. He’d reconnected with his family. This might seem like a double edged knife, but Bruce had actually been great about everything.

 

And if Jason was going to continue being honest with himself, he wasn’t exactly putting up all that much of a fight. Because deep down, all he really wanted was that sense of family again. He hated to admit it, and he hated how many chick flick moments were involved, but there was something about being accepted - by Bruce, Mr. No-Killing-Rule, no less - despite everything that he’d done, that made him feel special and loved.

 

It was worth the awkward glances and dinners. It was even worth Dick’s constant urge to hug him. He secretly felt warm and fuzzy inside whenever Dick felt the need to suddenly hug him. He enjoyed the feeling of Dick’s strong arms wrapping around him.

 

It made him feel safe, something he hadn’t felt in a very long time. The feeling was both amazing and terrifying because he felt like it would be taken away at any time. They were vigilantes, that wasn’t exactly the most safe job.

 

Then there’s the added supernatural aspect. He knew his time spent outside of the hunting world was drawing to a close. He’d already began taking a couple cases every now and then, reconnecting with Bobby and the hunting community. Making somewhat of a name for himself with his skills.

 

He didn’t retake the name of Winchester, that was long behind him. So he went by Jason Todd. It may seem dangerous, but the hunting community was tight - as tight as a spread out community of people who don’t trust others as a rule can be - and they did their best to protect their own because hunters are needed.

 

But the fact that he was making a name for himself was drawing attention. He knew that in a couple of years, he’d be thrown back into the fray, so dealing with demons was going to be inevitable. But his connections to Dick, Bruce, Alfred and Tim would prove to be a problem.

 

His name could be traced back to them. That put them in danger. It was one of the main reasons why he was incredibly reluctant to get attached to this semblance of a family. But despite how much he wanted to avoid that, he couldn’t help but grow incredibly attached.

 

You protect everything that is precious to you. That was the way of life to a hunter with people to protect. It’s something that he grew up knowing. He was terrified that some of the supernatural could come after them. He knew that they could protect themselves, but they were _his_ family.

 

They shouldn’t have to.

 

But eventually they would need to be made aware of the supernatural. He couldn’t just up and disappear no matter how tempting it may be. He knew that they had begun to care and get attached to him again. Dick and maybe even Bruce, would not rest if he just randomly disappeared.

 

He’d done it before, and Dick had managed to find him then. Traveling around america as a hunter would draw attention to himself. If he became wanted… well Batman wasn’t known as the world’s greatest detective for no reason.

 

But, he still dreaded the moment when he was forced to tell them. Knowing Bruce, he’d want to get involved, and that wouldn’t end well. And Dick was as clingy as someone could get. Dick would refuse to not get involved. He had an infuriating need to protect Jason.

 

Speaking of Dick, that brought up another thing.He wasn’t quite sure his feelings of ‘love’ for his ‘brother’ were strictly platonic anymore. That terrified him. He was so scared he’d slip up and somehow tip Dick off to his feelings.

 

He was careful and he tried to avoid Dick as much as possible, but Dick seemed convinced that he was a human teddy bear and insisted upon attaching himself to Jason’s person like an octopus.

 

But other than that his day was going great! If you forget the problems like his impending doom via hugs from Dick, then you could legitimately say that his day was going good. He didn’t have to wait in a long line to get his coffee this morning and Alfred had made some fresh pie.

 

… who was he kidding? His life was a downward spiral starting with and ending with Dick

 

… that was not meant as a pun.

 

* * *

 

When you really consider everything he has to deal with, it really isn’t a surprise that he’s jumpy when he enters the mansion after being away for a week. Dick had been about 3 times more clingy than normal _before_ he left for a week.

 

He was kind of afraid of what Dick would be like now that he’s back. He was lucky he’d been able to get away for as long as he did. He’d been going slightly stir crazy, so he’d told Bruce that he was going to be going away for a week.

 

Tim had almost thrown a fit (for some unknown reason, it’s not like they talked to each other all that much) so Jason had been afraid to tell Dick. He left unannounced, at least to Dick. Dick’s way of getting revenge is always incredibly creative and generally unpleasant.

 

Jason knew that he’d be upset, they’d been reconnecting since Jason had returned and the fact that Jason just up and disappeared for a week (he just knows Bruce wouldn’t have told Dick, if only to make him suffer when he got back) without telling him would seriously piss him off.

 

Not a good thing. Originally he was planning on telling Dick, but he had chickened out. It would have been a little too complicated to explain. You see, he had spent the week working with Bobby and some new hunter named ‘Garth’ get the hang of things. How would he explain that to Dick?

 

What if Dick had asked to go with him? He couldn’t say no to Dick’s puppy dog eyes no matter how much he pretended he could. Even if he had been able to say no to Dick, what’s to stop him from following him? He’d know what to look for and where to go.

 

He still hadn’t told them anything at all about the supernatural world. What was he supposed to do? So he’d kept it from Dick. He thought it was what would be best for them all in the long run.

 

Apparently not.

 

As it turns out, Dick was thinking quite the opposite. Only about 5 seconds after he’d entered the mansion, he heard Dick screaming at him. “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!” Jeez, Dick’s got a set of lungs.

 

He didn’t know Dick could actually yell that loud. Well, at this point it wasn’t even yelling anymore. It was more like screaming. He’s quite the screamer. *wiggles eyebrows* No bad mind, don’t go there.

 

Then out of nowhere he felt Dick’s palm connect with his cheek and his head was whipped to the side. Damn he was angry. Dick didn’t normally slap people, he was more likely to punch them. He’d certainly knocked Wally out enough times for punching to become his go to ‘I’m-angry-and-I-don’t-know-to-deal-with-this-pent-up-aggression’ reaction. “YOU UP AND DISAPPEAR FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK AND I HAD TO FIND OUT FROM _BRUCE?!_ ” Dick _screamed_ at him. It was almost ridiculously loud and Jason had to resist the urge to plug his ears.

 

Only his training on dealing with Banshees was able to help him control that urge. He did wince though, there was no controlling that reaction. “I just had to help out a friend with something. It was supposed to be a quick thing but I got held up”he tried to explain.

 

That was the wrong thing to say.

 

Dick looked absolutely livid. His lightly tanned skin (he mustn’t have been outside lately, he was usually more tanned due to his love of the outdoors) turning an adorable shade of red as he got even more worked up.

 

“You absolute _moron!_ ” he snarled. Jason backed up. Woah, he was in full bitch mode. Jason wasn’t going to get out of this unscathed. The last person who’d made Dick this angry had been put in the hospital for a _month_.

 

“You didn’t think to check in at all? Did you even consider how worried we’d be? A simple message would have been fine to let us know you’d been _held up_. I could have come and helped” Dick growled. Jason gulped nervously, how was he going to explain this away?

 

“It wasn’t a big deal, Dick. It was just an old friend. You know how they are, I was busy and I didn’t even think about checking in. I didn’t think I needed to” he argued, “and I didn’t want you to get involved. It’s a friend from my past, a past I’d rather not revisit.”

 

Dick looked visibly shaken, why, Jason had no idea. “Didn’t think you needed to?” Dick demanded, “Jason we _care_ about you. I was so worried about you. I had no idea what was happening. And why wouldn’t I be able to help?”

 

Jason stared at him. “I don’t want you involved, ok Dick? It’s something dangerous that no one should get involved in if you can help it. I’ve been in that world since I was 4 years old. There’s no hope for me, you’re still not involved it’s better that way.” Jason said flippantly.

 

Dick’s upper lip began to tremble and he dropped his head down so that his front bangs covered his eyes. “ _Do you really think that I care about that?_ ” he said softly. It was almost dangerous, you could tell that Dick was trying to reign in his temper.

 

“ _Y_ _ou really think that I wouldn’t get involved?_ I don’t care how dangerous it is, we’re a family, the Bat family nonetheless. We stick together, Jay. We help each other, not because we have to but because we _want_ to.” Dick growled.

 

He lunged forward and grabbed Jason by the shoulders. He was so fast, Jason was losing his touch. He needed to get out hunting more, build up his reflexes. At this rate he’d definitely be killed by a rogue vamp, let alone a nest. Especially with no partner.

 

Dick raised his head and stared into his eyes. Dick’s eyes were glistening and Jason’s own widened at the sight. Dick was about to _cry._ To cry for _him_ . No one had ever done that before. God, could Dick get any more perfect? He was falling more and more, and he was falling _hard._

 

Goddammit.

 

Dick had a conflicted look on his face as he stared into Jason’s eyes. Then he lunged forward and kissed him.

 

What. The. Fuck.

 

Dick’s lips were soft against his own, and they moved slowly and softly against his own despite the aggression in which the kiss started with. The kiss was tender and sweet and passionate and everything Jason had always dreamed that it would be.

 

He stood there frozen, with Dick’s hands on his shoulders holding him back against the door to the manor. He didn’t know what to do, but after a couple of seconds he began to kiss back. If your long term crush decided that they wanted to kiss you, you’d kiss back right?

 

Jason was timid at first, gently moving his lips with Dick’s. As soon as Dick felt him begin to participate he upped the passion. It turned into a full out make out session very fast and soon Dick’s tongue had found it’s way past his lips and had begun to explore his mouth.

 

Jason raised his hands from where they rested at his side to bury one in Dick’s hair and the other on his neck to pull the other man closer to him. Dick’s hands migrated from his shoulders down Jason’s back and came to a rest on the small of his back and his ass.

 

After a couple moments they broke apart, a trail of saliva still connecting them. Dick smirked and licked his bottom lip seductively. “We should talk” he said slightly breathlessly. Jason though that was a good idea, because he had a shit ton of questions starting with _‘what the fuck?’_ and ending with _‘what the fukety fuck?’_.

 

Jason was about to speak his thoughts when someone wolf whistled. His head whipped to face the sound so fast he almost got whiplash. A good 10 feet away from them stood not only Barbara (who to absolutely no one’s surprise, was the one who whistled) but Alfred, Tim, and _Bruce_.

 

Jason’s eyes widened. No way, Bruce did _not_ just witness him - the black sheep of the family - make out heavily with Dick - the golden boy that everyone loves. This is a disaster. He began to blush and attempted to push Dick away from him.

 

“Oh come on!” Tim yelled surprising everyone. “Couldn’t you have waited another week? You just made me lose a bet to both Barbara _and_ Alfred!” he said indignantly.

  
Are you kidding me?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said at the beginning I appreciate all of the comments you leave, so if you have something you wanna say leave it in a comment below! I always appreciate suggestions too, so if there's something that you want to see happen leave it in a comment. I can't promise that it will happen, but I get writers block quite frequently so if it doesn't happen in this story it might end up in a oneshot.


	23. Goodbye Sexual Tension!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter is shit but I've gotten impatient.

Jason blushed heavily before grabbing Dick’s arm and dragging him outside. He so did not need to deal with Bruce, Alfred and Tim on top of dealing with Dick’s out of the blue kiss. He continued to drag Dick towards his motorcycle despite the fact that he was protesting and barking out questions the entire way.

 

“Put this on” he said gruffly as he shoved an extra helmet into Dick’s arms. Dick looked surprised and he fumbled with the helmet, almost dropping it. He opened his mouth as if to protest or at least question the reason, but he was quickly silenced by a glare.

 

He put on the helmet without any more complaints. Jason put on his own helmet and hopped on the bike before staring at Dick pointedly. He didn’t want to have this conversation anywhere near the manor.

 

It took Dick a couple of seconds - which really wasn’t all that surprising, but come _on_ \- to comprehend what Jason wanted him to do. But once he did understand what was happening (really Dick? Jason told you to put on a helmet and then hopped on his bike. How much more obvious can one get?) he jumped on the bike behind Jason.

 

Jason turned on the bike and Dick wrapped his arms around his waist, and then they were off. Jason was secretly pleased with the weight of Dick’s arms around his waist, but he’d never admit it. It actually felt nice, and he was guilty of speeding up slightly just to have Dick’s arms tighten around him.

 

Damn Dick’s hugs were great.

 

He continued speeding away from the manor and eventually got on the highway. He hadn’t decided where he was planning on having this confrontation yet, but he just needed to get away.

He found his answer a couple of minutes later when he passed a park. It was in one of the nicer areas of Gotham, so it was actually a really beautiful place.

 

He circled back towards the park and parked his bike. He ripped off his helmet and dumped it on the seat of his  bike before stomping off a couple of feet away  from the bike. He heard some shuffling behind him and he knew Dick was mirroring his previous actions.

 

He scrubbed a hand down his face and covered his eyes with one hand. God when had the situation gotten so out of hand? He felt a hand touch his shoulder and he let out a shaky breath. “ _What. Was. That._ ” he gritted out from between clenched teeth.

 

He hadn’t yet removed the hand from over his eyes, so he was expecting the hug that he was pulled into. Dick spun him around and wrapped his arms around Jason and hugged him tight. Jason’s breath caught in his throat.

 

He didn’t hug back.

 

“Haven’t you already figured it out Jay?” Dick asked softly, murmuring into his shoulder. “I love you” he says. Jason’s eyes widen. There’s no way right? No way that Dick, perfect golden boy Dick Grayson, could have fallen in love with him.

 

He probably meant it in a platonic way. “And not in a platonic brotherly way” he continues.

 

Well shit.

 

“I think it started a couple months before… before you were taken from us. When I was getting to know you.” Dick began to explain, Jason was silent all the while. “I began to see the real you. Not your tough exterior that you never let down around Bruce, but the boy who believes that family is everything. The boy who’ll do anything for his family and those he loves.”

 

Jason didn’t miss how Dick had used present tense.  That meant a lot to him. It means that even though he’s done so many horrible thing, Dick still believed that he’s a good person. He’s one of the only people to believe that.

 

He’s also one of the only people to tell him that they loved him. His mom being the first one giving him the unconditional love that all children sought. His precious little brother, who he hadn’t seen in years, who seemed to think that he was perfect and loved him because he protected him.

 

And now Dick, who loved him for who he was. Not because he was obligated to, like the others. He seemed to genuinely care for him, and that meant _everything_. He knew that John had loved him to some extent.

 

He had learned that family was everything, especially when it’s all you have, from him after all. But he’d never said it, and he’d never really done a great job of showing it either. Then he’d been abandoned and all thought of familial love had left his mind.

 

Jason was surprised he felt that family was important, after what his father had done. It really wouldn’t be surprising if he’d lost complete faith in family after that. A lot of children who’d been abandoned did.

 

But he’d still moved forward and kept those beliefs. Torturing himself with the thought that maybe he had planned to return. That maybe, if he’d stayed and waited then John would come back and pick him up. But he’d  moved forward and started a new life in Gotham.

 

Here, he’d lived on the streets. The streets of crime alley to be specific. There’s no love on the streets, and there’s no love amongst criminals. Even towards a child.

 

But then he’d found Bruce and thought he’d found unconditional love and a family. He wasn’t completely wrong, Bruce was just bad at showing his emotions. He’d never said ‘I love you’, but he’d been there for Jason. He’d made him feel like he mattered, like he was family.

 

But then he’d died, and that had changed everything.

 

Bruce hadn’t killed his killer, and he could respect the reason why. It had been drilled into his head for years that you don’t kill humans. But the Joker was a monster, and didn’t really deserve to be called a human anymore. But that didn’t stop him from wanting Batman to show that he cared by killing his killer.

 

That’d been ingrained in his head as a young child as a way of showing love. Well, love from the dead. That’s what John had done. He’d completely uprooted their lives to chase after the thing that had killed his mom, even though it seemed like an impossible task with nearly no leads.He’d done that because he loved her so much.

 

Jason’s killer hadn’t been like that. In fact, he was incredibly easy to track down if you put your mind to it. He’d even been kept in one place for an incredibly long time. What had been stopping Bruce from killing him?

 

But that’s not the point. He’d killed the Joker and he’d made his amends with Bruce. Bruce had never said ‘I love you’ but he’d proven his love in the small action she made while Jason adjusted to life back at the manor. He showed it by not caring about Jason’s shady past and welcoming him back into the fold even though he already had another Robin.

 

Alfred was much the same. He’d never say ‘I love you’ because he was too proper. But he cared for you and showed it through his actions. That was enough. Jason would take all the love that he could get.

 

But it was still nice to hear it said, you know? It was nice to hear those words fall from Dick’s lips. It had absolutely _nothing_ to do with the fact that he had a major crush - dare he say he’d fallen in love - on Dick. No sir.

 

“I fell in love with _you_ Jason.” Dick says after a moment of silence. “Now I’m not asking you to say anything back, and if you want to keep the relationship we already have, that’s fine.” Dick began to ramble, “if you want nothing to do with me now, that’s find too-”

 

Jason cut him off by pulling away and smashing his lips against Dick’s. It wasn’t the most elegant kiss in the world, and it certainly wasn’t anything like their previous kiss, but that didn’t make it any less meaningful.

 

He poured all of his feelings into that kiss, trying to convey how much he felt. How much he returned his feelings. How much he loved Dick. With this single action he was telling Dick that he felt the same.

 

Dick seemed frozen for a moment, and Jason feared he was being too forward but then Dick began to respond. He was tentative, almost nervous in his actions. Almost as if he was afraid that this was all a dream.

 

Jason was still semi afraid that it was as well. Maybe he’d fallen asleep while driving his bike back or he’d crashed at Bobby’s for another night. He was scared it was wishful thinking, because _since when did Alfred make bets on his love life_?

 

But he figured, if this is a dream, he might as well enjoy it. Dream Dick was quite the good kisser anyway, so he might as well give himself some material for the shower later…

 

Anyway… Dick began to get more and more confident, and soon their kiss had grown into a full blown make out session. Jason’s hands rose to bury themselves in Dick’s raven black locks, and Dick’s own hands came to rest on his ass.

 

Eventually they broke apart, both of them needing air. Jason pressed his forehead against Dick’s and panted slightly. “So… you… can probably tell… that I… feel the same way” he panted in between gasps for air.

 

Dick’s answering smile was so bright that it could power all of New York for a month. Jason smiled softly back at him. “Really?” Dick asked softly, suddenly bashful. Jason smirked and pulled Dick closer.

 

“If I wasn’t serious about this would I kiss you?” he asked before pulling Dick into another heated make out session. Dick smirked against his lips and deepened the kiss. They stopped again when they had to breathe. “So…” Jason started, “what are we now?” he asked softly.

 

Dick kissed the corner of his mouth and pulled away to look into Jason’s eyes. He smiled softly, almost sadly. “We can be whatever you want, JayBird” he said softly. He reached up and began to play with the white bangs that hung almost down to his eyes despite the fact that he’d spiked his hair up.

 

Jason reached and gripped Dick’s other hand in his own. “I’d like us to be… boyfriends? If it’s ok with you of course” he back pedaled slightly seeing Dick’s shocked face. If he’d thought that Dick’s previous smile could power all of New York for a month then this one could power it for an entire _year_.

 

“I’d like nothing more than to be your boyfriend, Jason.” He said softly. He reached up and caressed Jason’s cheek. Jason smiled in return and touched Dick’s hand, leaning into the touch.

 

“I love you” he admitted softly, “I’ve loved you for years”. He felt incredibly vulnerable admitting this, but Dick did deserve to know.

 

“I know” Dick admitted. That bitch. He knew and he didn’t do shit about it? Well to be fair, he did over react a little bit. Just a little bit though. Jason rolled his eyes, the Star Wars joke was not lost on him.

 

“God you can be such a dork!” he giggled. Damn love was turning him soft. Jason Todd did _not_ giggle. This was horrible… but it was worth it. Goddammit. Then a thought struck him. Bruce had seen them making out.

 

 _Bruce had seen them making out_.

 

Shit.

 

He did _not_ want to go back to the manor and have _that_ conversation. That was not going to be fun in any way shape or form no matter which direction it went.

  
_Ughhhhhhhhh_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've finally reached the last chapter before the time skip!!! Yay! I just want to thank everyone for sticking with this story for so long. And because I'm awesome I've updated a bit quicker than before.
> 
> If you have any comments, they're always appreciated. Subscribe for an email update when I upload the first chapter of the 7 year time skip that kicks off the supernatural elements.


	24. 7 Years Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The supernatural shit is finally here! We've actually arrived at the crossover! Thank you for being patient and sticking with this story.

The talk with Bruce and the brood went surprisingly well. Of course, it really wasn’t that surprising considering how long they’ve all been wanting the two of them to get together. Barbara had no problem with telling them about how long they’ve been waiting, or how much money she owed Alfred because they couldn’t have done this the week before.

 

But other than some subtle teasing, there wasn’t many problems with anyone’s opinions on their relationship. Dick was semi-successful in his endeavor with the local PD. They never dug into his past, and despite John Blake’s outwardly upbeat attitude, no one really talked to him about anything else but the common pleasantries.

 

And now 7 years later, they were still happily together. Sure the relationship had some ups and some downs, but their lover spats never lasted long. They were really happy together. Jason was still basking in the thought that Dick actually loved him, and he loved him unconditionally.

 

Everything else in Gotham was pretty much the same throughout those 7 years, but other than that their lives were pretty uneventful of anything superhero related. As for the supernatural side of their lives, well that’s a different story altogether.

 

At first, there wasn’t all that much, he still helped Bobby when he needed it. He took a couple hunts here and there, only as many as would keep him out of Bruce’s radar. Now that he was back, Bruce had taken an interest in his life.

 

It was rather odd if he took regular weekends or even weeks off of everything and just disappear. When approached, Jason simply raised an eyebrow and shot a pointed look at his helmet or one of his guns.

 

They tended to avoid stuff that involved his vigilante self if they could. They still didn’t know the extent of his influence in Gotham, let alone elsewhere. He had been ‘dead’ for 5 years.

 

Over the years, he’d gotten more and more used to the hunting world, as well as making sure that his two lives had stayed separate. He didn’t know what he planned to do when the time came for him to play his role in the battle between heaven and hell, but he preferred to leave it until that moment arrived to decide what to do.

 

He’d cross that bridge when he came to it. All he knew, was that he didn’t want to have to involve his family. It wouldn’t be safe for them, and sure they were vigilantes in one of the most crime filled cities (tho it wasn’t much unorganized crime any more; he may have taken down the crime level, but Gotham was built upon crime, there was no getting rid of it; only controlling it) in the world.

 

That doesn’t mean they’re cut out to be hunters. It’s different for them, because the most they have to face is a human. They know all the horrible things that humans are capable of, the Joker being a prime example. It’s the monsters that go bump in the night, the ones they were told as a child did not exist, that they can’t possibly understand.

 

It’s not good for them to try. And once they find out, they will try. It’s who they are, so Jason was planning on keeping them in the dark, even if it meant that he had to run when the time came to return 100% to the hunting world.

 

It’s the world he was born into, and it’s his return to that world that Missouri gave her life for. He wouldn’t let her down, even if it killed him and he wouldn’t be able to see Dick ever again. Because he knew that Dick was going to heaven. He was one of the few spots of white in Gotham’s grey and black.

 

Jason, no matter how much good he did, would always end up in hell. It was how things were, he was not a saint or a hero, by any definition. He did what had to be done, because there weren’t others there to do it. Like what John Winchester did.

 

John could have stopped hunting, but he didn’t because he was killing so that others didn’t have to. It was his job as a Winchester - even if he had spent less time using that name than he did Jason Todd - to carry on that legacy. Saving people, hunting things, the family business.

 

Hmm, you could even use that motto to describe the Bat clan as well. They just hunted the criminals of Gotham city. Wow… he really couldn’t escape this life. He’d always _been_ a hunter, and it seems he’ll always _be_ a hunter.

 

He had all the luck.

 

He sighed as he raised his cup to take a drink. He was sitting in the apartment that he shared with Dick, having a drink (drink of choice being some imported vodka that was illegal in 7 states) and waiting for Dick to come back from his day job as a detective.

 

He never thought he’d be this domestic. It never crossed his mind that he’d ever find someone, let alone be the one to sit and wait for the other to come home from work. How times had changed. It truly amazed him sometimes.

 

It was only a couple minutes after his inner musings came to a close that the door opened and Dick entered the apartment, still in his uniform. Even though he had been promoted to detective, Dick still preferred to wear the standard uniform. And if Jason secretly took pleasure in the way that those pants made Dick’s ass look then he wasn’t going to complain.

 

Jason looked up and scanned Dick’s body, going for a lewd look before realizing something was off. Dick looked tired and worn out, more than just the drain of the day and having to work with idiot colleagues. No, he looked that bone deep tired that came from seeing too much, especially in their line of work.

 

He rose from where he was sitting and immediately went to Dick, beginning to check him over. “Dick…” he muttered softly, “are you okay? Come on babe, talk to me.” He managed to get Dick to walk towards the table that sat in their kitchen and Dick proceeded to sit down heavily on the chair.

 

He dumped his bag on the floor, and the pile of folders he had been holding onto the table before leaning forward and placing his head in his hands. It was a very thick stack of files. This worried Jason. Not much got Dick to act all worn like this.

 

He was an eternal optimist, and if something was bringing him down, then it had to be something big. “What happened?” he pushed. He needed to know what was wrong. That’s the only way he’d be able to help. Dick sighed heavily before he tapped the pile of files that were on the table.

 

Jason knew he technically shouldn’t be doing this (Gordon knew that Detective Blake had a significant other, but he still wasn’t technically allowed to share case information) but stuff like that’s never stopped them from interfering before.

 

He carefully picked up one of the files and began to read. It seemed like Gotham had an official serial killer - though it seemed more like killers according to the evidence, even if the GCPD hadn’t made that connection yet - that wasn’t a super villain. It seemed like just a really messed up ordinary(?) human.

 

It seemed that the killer didn’t have a visual preference, or a social status preference. There wasn’t anything about the victims (a total of 47 victims - this guy (guys?) seemed to be rather serious, and in any other city this would be considered completely terrifying, but this was a rather small body count for Gotham) that was the same.

 

They literally had nothing in common with each other, so as far as victimology is concerned, there was no predicting who would be the next victim, so trying to understand the murderer(s) through their victims wouldn’t be possible.

 

But there was still a clear signature in the murders that allowed the police to know that this wasn’t some gang killing and that it was actually a serial issue. Each victim had been restrained, by some sort of adhesive tape (it varied from victim to victim) and all of them were drained of blood.

 

There were also bite marks made by fangs on the necks of all of the victims. The police thought it was just one person because according to the notes made by some officer named ‘Nick’, it was _obviously_ a singular killer because there would be more victims if it was a duo or a group.

 

Wow. He’d heard about the difficult officers that Dick had to work with, but Dick had never informed him that they were stupid too. It was fairly obvious from the pictures of the injuries attached to each file, that it was a group of at least 10 different people of all ages and sexes. The bite marks on the necks of the victims were all different. They were different sizes and shapes and some were even missing teeth.

 

On a couple of the victims there was some postmortem injuries, but the signature was still there, so it was safe to assume that some members of the group were more sadistic than others. This seemed rather odd at first glance, and in any other city this would probably cause mass panic, but this was Gotham.

 

Gothamites had even begun to get desensitized to the Joker before his death, and there was still enough crime in Gotham that the citizens were still a healthy amount of paranoid that they know how to avoid trouble.

 

But something was nagging at me. This seemed so familiar somehow. Like I’d seen it before. I’d like to believe that this was a completely human group of killers, but the instincts I’d gained from being a hunter was telling me a different story. If I was just any other hunter, I’d believe that I had a nest of vampires on my hands.

 

Looking over the injuries again, I had to say that the chances of it being a nest of vampires was pretty high. I’d been on the occasional hunt, but I hadn’t had to take down a nest of vampires in a couple of years.

 

The last one I’d had to take care of was 2 years ago when Garth had just finished his training and Bobby deemed him capable enough to hunt on his own. But he’d gotten a little in over his head and had called him in as backup.

 

It was never a good idea to take on a nest alone. But this time he’d be flying solo because he couldn’t risk Dick or any of the others finding out. He needed to get Dick off of this case.  “Dick” he began softly, placing the files back into a neat pile.

 

“Get off of this case. I’ll take care of it.” he said. That got Dick to look up. He looked so terribly confused, and somewhat annoyed. “What do you mean, you’ll take care of it?” he questioned. Jason winced slightly at Dick’s tone of voice.

 

“Dick… I know the people behind this, they shouldn’t be here, it’s my territory. This doesn’t concern you. I’ll take care of them.” Jason said dismissively, trying not to show Dick how much he wanted him as far away from this as possible.

 

Dick looked angry. “Doesn’t concern me?!” he growled “of course it concerns me, this is my case! You better not be keeping information from me Jay. I need to know what’s going on. Does it have anything to do with where you disappear off to whenever you get called away by ‘Bobby’?” he asked sharply.

 

Jason winced yet again. Oh Dick was pissed. This was not good in any way shape or form. But he didn’t want Dick or any of the others involved in the supernatural world. They had enough to deal with with Gotham’s crazies already.

 

“Yes it does” he sighs, he wouldn’t be able to hide that fact from Dick. “But I don’t want you involved, please just stay away from it.” he pleaded. Dick looked surprised at his plea, but there was a hard look in his eye.

 

Jason knew he wasn’t just going to say out of it. This was going to be a major pain. He could feel the headache already. He’s going to need to make some calls... and dig out his old machete, maybe sharpen it too. He stood up and left Dick in the dining room, pulling out his cell phone on the way. He entered a number that he’d long ago memorized and waited for the other to pick up.

 

“Hey Bobby, I think I have a problem.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Jason has a nest of vampires to deal with. This is gonna be interesting.


	25. The Truth Comes Out Eventually

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long! But to be fair, this is more than twice as long as the usual updates are! And um... I already have the next chapter finished, so I'm going to try and stay one step ahead...
> 
> So I won't update chapter 26 until I've finished chapter 27 and so forth

Jason should have known better. Telling Dick to butt out probably wasn't the best idea. It's only going to encourage him to stick his nose where it doesn't belong. But he still had to at least try to get Dick to stay out of it.

 

He knew what Dick was like. He had been raised by the same man (even if he kept some habits from his original father) who was known as the world’s greatest detective. It was really no surprise that Dick would want to uncover the mystery that he had told Dick to avoid.

 

It only made it seem more interesting and worth the effort. He probably could have phrased things _a lot_ better. That much was very obvious. He’d made a pretty bad decision concerning word choice.

 

But Jason had been making a lot of bad decisions lately. He’d been getting sloppier and sloppier in his attempts to hide his involvement with the supernatural. It wasn’t even like he was trying to let everyone know. He still believes that the best way to leave them to fight in the apocalypse would be to simply up and disappear.

 

They’d eventually give up, and it’s not like it would be the first time that Bobby had helped a hunter disappear from their family. It was actually surprisingly frequent, Jason had even helped a few. Because if there’s one thing that hunters can agree on, family is everything.

 

Hunters just wanted to protect those that were special to them. They didn’t want them involved in the supernatural world because loved ones had a funny way of getting into trouble all because they wanted to help.

 

It was safer to just let them believe you ran away or died. They wouldn’t ask too many questions, and they’d eventually give up. They’d move on with their lives and they’d live because of it. In a hunter’s mind, that was worth it.

 

But deep down, he knew that his family finding out about his other side hobby (they were the ones responsible for the whole vigilante thing, so really they have no room to talk). It was inevitable. They were simply too curious for their own good.

 

And looking at all of this now… he’s not so sure that he wants them to not know anymore. He knows that in theory it’s a horrible idea to have them know. But he’d tired of hiding. Their entire lives are practically built upon secrets. He hasn’t been honest since he was 4 years old.

 

All those lies begin to pile up. And it’s a heavy burden to bear. He’s just tired.

 

It’s been a long time. Maybe… just maybe… telling them might not blow up in his face.

  
  
  
  
  


… Nope … he was wrong … so very very wrong …

 

It totally blew up in his face. Just maybe not in the way he originally thought it would.

 

* * *

 

Dick honestly tried to stay out of it.

 

No never mind, that’s a complete and utter lie. He didn’t even try to stop snooping. As soon as Jason left the room he called both Bruce and Tim to catch them up to speed on his case. Well that and the fact that Jason somehow knew something.

 

Something was up with these murders, and Jason was somehow involved. There was _no way_ he was going to let this go. Jason knew something. Whether it was something bad or something that could help them didn’t really matter at this point.

 

The problem was that he’s keeping secrets. Again.

 

That’s not good at all. He’d been turning around in the past 7 years. Becoming more of an anti-hero than the villain mob boss they’d found out he was. He was changing slowly, step by step. He hadn’t killed anyone, be it murderer, rapist or any other type of criminal, in almost 7 years.

 

He’d had a couple slip ups in the beginning, but he had only seriously injured them as of late. But the fact that he was getting involved with a serial killing issue? That's big. This serial killer had killed a fuck ton of people.

 

This could be a sign of Jason returning to his old ways. The only thing is, if Jason were to become a serial killer. These types of people would not be his chosen victims. He’d always been a protector of those he believed were innocents. These people were clean (some more than others) and not involved with hurting others.

 

Why would Jason get involved in this? Unless he knew who was doing it. It was the only thing that Dick could think of that would explain why Jason was involved. He didn’t want Dick involved. That usually means he’s going to go and do something really stupid and he doesn’t want Dick to have any of the fallout.

 

Maybe he was going to confront the killer on his own. That was certainly a dumb idea, and while he knew that his boyfriend was a very capable fighter, he still didn’t like it when he went in with no back up and a half baked plan.

 

That was just plain stupid. But of course it was Jason, and he was known for being impulsive and uncaring of consequences as long as the job was done. Those two things are not a good combination at all.

 

It was a very dangerous and volatile combination. It’s why Jason was always the one who ended up getting injured when they did have to face something that was more of a challenge than the average street thug.

 

Despite local crime now being organized, others from outside seemed to think that means Gotham is ripe for the taking and that they can be the new big boss in the crime world of Gotham.

 

They got nowhere of course, but the point is that Jason is in no way out of shape. Especially in the downfall of his enemies. Jason was still a force to be reckoned with, and lately he’d been getting just a little more violent.

 

If he was going off to hunt this serial killer, there was no saying what condition they’d find him in. So he called Bruce and Tim. He’d already let Bruce know about the fact that he had been put on the case by his job at the GCPD. And there was no doubt that Tim already knew.

 

That kid was scarily obsessed with gaining all the knowledge available on everything that happened (well violently happened) in Gotham. He saved all the newspaper clippings and crime photos on any criminal event. He put together files that would make the FBI jealous.

 

They were certainly 1000% better than anything the GCPD could provide him with. He’d have to ask Tim if he could check out what he had so far. He undoubtedly had a file on this case. It was probably a really thick file too, even the one the GCPD provided was pretty thick. This was the biggest and strangest serial killer Gotham had had since the Joker.

 

This was just the type of thing that Tim obsessed over. But at least his obsession had it’s uses. His files did come in handy whenever they needed to look over a case. It helped that he had access to all the security camera’s that had been placed in the city by the Bat himself. He had pictures that the police couldn’t even hope to get their hands on.

 

Unlike Tim, Barbara’s obsessions usually weren’t nearly as useful to the family of vigilantes. She was still working on setting Bruce up with another hero on the Justice League, but she’d had no luck so far.

 

He’d already asked Bruce’s opinion on the case, but Bruce had pointed him in Jason’s direction claiming that Jason would be better suited to help him to find this killer. But that hadn’t ended well.

 

Jason had been too closed off and too suspicious about everything concerning this case to be of any help.

 

When he brought the case back to Bruce, telling him about what Jason’s reaction was, he got worried. Bruce agreed that it wasn’t like him, and he looked over the case file again. This time, he included the extra information that Tim had gathered.

 

They brainstormed for a bit, and they were able to find out that they were after a group of people. This was worrying because of the possible gang connections. The GCPD had never been good with handling gangs.

 

Especially his specific unit filled with the problem officers. In his unit there was a more than a few cops who’d had many issues with gangs in the past. Whether it be because they had been victimized by them before, or because they had a deep seated hatred for any and all people who defied the law.

 

Even if it was another cop. They were incredibly self-righteous and attacked without question.

 

But upon a closer look, it was easier to see that it wasn’t any known gang. They seemed far too inexperienced with the whole murder thing. Some bodies were clearly hidden better than others, and the death quicker in some cases.

 

It spoke of inexperience and multiple age groups. They were definitely missing something, and the mysterious bite marks were not helping narrow anything down. As for the geographical location, the dump sites were all over the map.

 

There was no logical way to even begin to track these people down. So his only lead would be to try and follow Jason. Even that seemed to take quite a bit of time. Ever since they’d had that conversation, Jason had been distant. He’d been looking for something, but Dick had no idea what.

 

He’d been avoiding them all actually, so it was pretty difficult to get even a glimpse at what he was doing. But what he did manage to see didn’t make any sense. It was all random and seemed to have nothing to do with the case.

 

But then there had been a sudden change. One night, Jason had just lurched up from where he was reading what looked to be a really old book that wasn’t in English or any languish that he’d ever learned, and announced that he’d be going ‘out’ for a bit and for him to not wait up.

 

That set off alarm bells and Dick immediately tagged along, sticking to the shadows to make sure that Jason didn’t notice that he was being followed. He’d gone in full Nightwing gear since he hadn’t changed after patrol.

 

Jason hadn’t gone on patrol, claiming he was doing some research for a friend.

 

The point is Dick was armed and ready. And it the machetes that Jason was now holding said anything, he was ready for a fight too. Dick had tailed him until he got to what looked like an abandoned house.

 

But Dick had seen these types of houses before. It was where the street kids and thugs stayed for a couple of days before moving on. And while this one may still look abandoned, there were some clear signs that this property was protected. Well if you know what to look for.

 

Dick might not have been a street kid, but Jason had been, and he’d seen fit to share with them all of the information he had learned from the streets of Gotham. It was something that Bruce would never be able to find out another way.

 

It was something that only street kids knew, so that they were safe. They’d caught an awful lot of people by using the knowledge that Jason had given them. Not just the Bats either. Dick had even been able to use this information to help keep his cover as John Blake.

 

John Blake had spent some time on the streets and he grew up in the slums. It only makes sense that he’d know that stuff. They’d caught a couple drug dealers and managed to find some street kids stable homes that could actually care for the children.

 

These places were also popular for other crimes, like kidnapping and murder. You never really knew what you were going to find when you raided one of these. Even though Dick knew that very well - once the GCPD had found some old homeless guy who had a bad habit of being nude whenever he was inside - he was still shocked by what he saw.

 

The house had a very open floor plan, most likely caused by all of the decay and rot. This house was _old_. But that wasn’t the most shocking part. The shocking thing was the amount of people in the room.

 

There was about 10 people who were alive… And about 20 more who were dead. They were piled up in a corner, and they looked completely drained of blood which fit the other victims. This was definitely the place.

 

And that was enough reason for alarm, but the 10 who were alive (most likely the murderers) were a rather odd collection of people themselves. There were a couple of teens, a couple middle aged and young adult. There was even a preteen girl. She couldn’t be more that 12. She was so tiny.

 

That made Dick pause. Was she one of the killers as well? Oh he did not want to have to knock out a little girl. There would be no way the police would believe him anyway if he arrested this group of people.

 

They were too odd to work together. Based off looks alone, none of them should have been able to get along, let alone meet. They all looked to be from completely different social groups. It didn’t help that the police hadn’t even thought about the fact that there might be more than one killer.

 

Just proves how useful his unit was. Even Gordon hadn’t asked that question yet.

 

Maybe some of them weren’t involved? They could simply be future victims, right? Apparently not. It seems that that was the exact moment that Jason decided to enter the room machetes raised in a very threatening manner.

 

At first Dick was worried that he’d alarm the hostages. That is until he saw how they reacted. As soon as Jason entered the room they all got into defensive positions and… _hissed_ at him? They bared their teeth at him and literally let out a feral hiss like the one a cat makes when you step on its tail.

 

Then something weird happened. It was difficult to see from where he was hiding in the rafters, but it looked like there was suddenly a second set of teeth that looked inhuman suddenly in their mouths. But that couldn’t possibly be real right? No way was that possible.

 

And because life just loved to fuck him over, Jason went and attacked them. He was like a cross between a feral animal and a skilled warrior. He attacked with no mercy and strong blows that nearly took off limbs, but he was also wild and unpredictable.

 

Dick was worried considering the amount of damaged that he looked to be doing to the killers, but he was confident that Jason wouldn’t kill them. But then Jason swung back and took the head off of the preteen girl.

 

That was it. He put a hand onto his comm and sent a message to Bruce and Tim letting them know his location and that he needed assistance. Then he jumped down and into the fray. The group of killers split up between then and he was fending them off with his escrima sticks and excellent gymnastics skills. All the while screaming expletives at Jason.

 

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING???” he screamed as he slammed one of the young adults - probably a college student - into a wall effectively knocking him out. “JASON YOU CAN’T JUST KILL THESE PEOPLE!” He continued to scream at Jason as he attempted to try and knock out the others that he was fighting.

 

But it appeared his screaming was doing nothing to stop Jason as he simply continued to hack apart the killers. After Jason had gotten rid of (and by that he means permanently gotten rid of) all of those that he was fighting he made a point to decapitate all of the ones that Dick had already knocked out.

 

He was pissed. Jason didn’t need to kill these people. He would’ve found a way to get them convicted of murder. The police could have handled it. Luckily there was still one alive, Jason hadn’t managed to get to yet as he was slumped against the wall unconscious. He could take the fall with the police.

 

He turned to face Jason and began to lecture him when he saw Jason’s eyes widen in surprise and horror. At first Dick was confused but then suddenly something jumped him from behind and managed to wrestle him onto the floor.

 

He soon discovered that it was the first guy that he’d knocked out. But the guy didn’t even look slightly confused or dazed. Nope, he just looked really _really_ angry. He managed to get his hands around Dick’s neck and began to squeeze.

 

He snarled at Dick, revealing that Dick hadn’t been seeing things earlier. He did indeed have another set of incredibly sharp and long fangs. Those did not look human, and you could still see the human teeth behind them. Well this explained some of the weirder bite marks.

 

He was starting to lose consciousness, and the… thing was leaning in as if he was going to bite him when suddenly there was a flash of metal and then there was no head attached to the body and the hands that were wrapped around his neck went slack.

 

He quickly pushed the body off of him and rolled, doubling over and coughing violently. During one of his short breathing breaks he was able to catch a glimpse of the still open doorway. Looks like Jason never closed the door when he went in.

 

In the doorway stood Bruce and Tim. They stared on in silence, looking serious and a bit… disappointed. But they weren’t staring at him. They were staring at Jason. His eyes were also drawn to his boyfriend’s figure. He was covered in blood and holding his two machetes that were also soaked in blood.

 

It didn’t help that there was dead bodies, some in more pieces than others, surrounding him. Ohh this was not going to be good.

 

* * *

 

Jason sighed heavily as they returned to the cave. Bruce was in the lead and he was incredibly angry. He didn’t know if it was about the fact that he went in without backup, killed people, or kept yet another major secret from them. The last one having been the fact that he was even alive.

 

He was a bit pissed himself. If Dick had just not seen anything. If they hadn’t shown up, things would have gone much smoother. His family didn’t need to see him killing anymore ‘people’. They’d seen him gun down enough criminals to know that he wasn’t afraid to kill if it got the job done. But this time was different.

 

This time he hadn’t used his guns at all. He’d full on attacked a group of people - ranging from a young teen to a middle aged man - with a machete and nothing else. He’d hacked them apart in such a brutal way, even decapitating one right above Dick.

 

In his defense, the vampire had been about to kill Dick and decapitating them was the only way to make sure they stayed dead. It’s how hunting went. You had to kill the monsters before they killed you because there was no reasoning with the supernatural.

 

Things had been going so well up until Dick had barged in after he’d killed the first one. There had been approximately 10 vamps. So it wasn’t the biggest nest he’d ever had to deal with, but he was alone, so it was a bit uneven. He made due by simply using _two_ machetes.

 

He’s strong enough now to be able to chop their heads off with a couple clean strokes. The fight had gone well, he’d been able to fend of the vampires easily. Most of them seemed to be rather new at the whole un-dead thing. There were a couple more experienced vampires, but they were too busy trying to protect the others to be able to do anything of true damage.

 

A punch or two never killed anyone.

 

Then he’d managed to take out one of the younger ones. He could still pinpoint the exact moment where everything went wrong. The second her head hit the floor there was someone springing out of the shadows and tackling a couple of the vamps that had been sneaking up on Jason.

 

Then as soon as he began to fight off a couple of the vamps - never taking them out, only holding them off long enough to be able to breathe - he began to scream at Jason. He began ranting about something or another.

 

Really Jason was a little too busy trying to gank those sons of bitches to pay attention to what Dick was screaming at him about. Honestly, Dick needs to reconsider his priorities if chewing Jason out came before neutralizing a threat.

 

After a couple minutes of screaming threats and other profanities at him, Dick seemed to begin trying to subdue the vampires. But every time he managed to get one down, they just got right back up.

 

During the time that Dick had been occupied with a couple of the nest, Jason had managed to take out the others. It took a bit more time, but then he was able to take out all but the one vampire that was still fighting Dick.

 

Then the vampire got the upper hand and he’d had to kill the damn monster when he was right on top of Dick. Of course that was the moment that Bruce and Tim arrived. Bruce took one look at all the dead bodies and immediately jumped to conclusions.

 

He had glared and swept his cape as he began to walk away, throwing a “you will explain when we get back” over his shoulder. Tim had immediately fallen into step behind him. Even though Jason had once been in that position, it is still a rather intimidating image.

 

He was broken from his reverie by Bruce suddenly turning around and demanding an explanation as to why he killed a bunch of people. Jason, could only respond with “they weren’t people, Bruce. They were monsters.”  This didn’t exactly help his situation.

 

“I know your views on criminals! That doesn’t mean you can just _behead every serial killer you come across_.” he pointed out, a weary expression on his face. Now that the anger had ebbed slightly, all that was left was a bone deep tiredness.

 

Jason shook his head, “no you _don’t_ understand! Those people weren’t monsters like the Joker was! Despite all the horrible things he’d done, and no matter how much I wanted to call him a _monster_ , I can’t because he’s _human_!” he almost screamed.

 

He needed them to understand. “Now I know that this might sound crazy… but all of those stories about monsters under your bed and the creatures that go bump in the night? Well they’re real.” This revelation was met with some rather interesting reactions.

 

At first there was silence. Then Dick began to laugh hysterically. “That’s really funny Jason! Now tell us the real situation” he managed to say between laughing and gasping for air. Tim just looks confused and he soon began to type away on his keyboard, no doubt looking for some sort of proof on the internet or with his wide web of connections and informants.

 

Bruce had a blank face on. He was clearly thinking, but… Jason was unsure as to whether he believed him or not. He decided to answer Dick. “It’s not a joke Dick” he said with a sigh, running his fingers through his hair. This was not going to be easy to explain. “I haven’t been fully honest with you… about almost everything.” he admitted.

 

This got Bruce to break out of his stupor. He looked slightly confused, but at the same time incredibly defensive. Bruce didn’t like where this was going at all. Dick looked shocked, but not in the good way. He looked slightly horrified, but he sat down and stared at him expectantly anyway.

 

Jason sighed yet again, “we might as well get comfortable… and someone should probably get Alfred and Barbara. They deserve to know as well.” he mumbled. Both Tim and Bruce nodded in agreement, and Tim went to get Alfred while Bruce sent a message to Barbara that she needed to get to the cave because of some Bat business.

 

Dick looked rather impatient, and luckily enough Alfred and Barbara got there in only 5 minutes. That wasn’t all that long all things considered, but Jason could understand why Dick was impatient.

 

This wasn’t exactly a normal situation even for them.

 

He sat down and ran a hand through his hair again. “Ok… I should probably start with the fact that my name wasn’t always Jason Todd. I took that name when I first came to Gotham.” That was one hell of a bomb to drop on them, and he was met by many shocked faces. Dick looked like he wanted ask a question, but he held up his hand in a sign to wait.

 

“Questions at the end please? Ok, anyway, my birth name was Dean Winchester. I was born to John and Mary Winchester, and I used to have a little brother. I had a happy go lucky run of the mill life up until I was 4 years old. Then everything changed when my mother died. But she didn’t die in the way that you might think.”

 

“She had been stabbed in the stomach and burned alive. But that wasn’t the strange part about her murder. The thing was, that all happened on the ceiling. Every since that night my dad was obsessed with finding my mother’s killer. One the way, he discovered all of the other supernatural creatures too. We couldn’t just let them continue to kill innocent people, so he trained us to be hunters and we hunted the supernatural.”

 

He let out a small laugh, “we had a motto too. Saving people, hunting things, the family business” looking back at that line that his dad had told him so often, it was rather humorous. It was rather stupid. But then all the mirth left him and his expression darkened.

 

“But when I was 9 years old I slipped up and almost got my little brother killed. After that my dad packed up and left, taking my brother with him.” He put his head in in hand as he leaned forward placing his elbows on his knees.

 

“I had enough money to get me to Gotham, and I happened to have a friend in Gotham so that’s why I came here. His name was Jason Todd, and it was his mom that was the druggie. I was just planning on crashing with him for a couple of weeks until I could set up a safe place of my own. What I hadn’t been counting on was him following in his mother’s footsteps and overdosing.”

 

He sighed. This was always so hard to talk about. The last time he’d had to explain was when he was telling Bobby, and by extension Garth, about what had been going on in Gotham. The part he honestly hated the most was talking about Jason. He still felt guilty about basically stealing his friend’s identity.

 

But he did what he had to do to survive. He hadn’t wanted to be connected to the name Winchester. In his mind, when his father packed up and left, he disowned him. In Jason’s mind - because that’s who he is now - he was no longer a Winchester.

 

“There wasn’t anyone who remembered the little street rat named Jason Todd, and I didn’t want any connections to my past. So I became Jason Todd. That’s when I met you, and I became Robin… Then I died.”

 

He saw Bruce flinch. He still felt a small sense of satisfaction at Bruce’s reaction. It was still more than what John would have shown. John had never been a fan of showing emotion. And despite the fact that John would have tried to track down his killer, he probably wouldn’t have been able to kill him.

 

He’s not exactly all that competent. It’s been 22 years, and according to Bobby he hadn’t been able to track down the demon.

 

“And then I came back. It turns out that the supernatural or ‘God’ or whatever, still has plans for me because they had one of my old contacts make a deal. In 10 years… well now I suppose it will be in 3 years… she’d going to go to hell. That was the payment that the demons required to bring me back to life.”

 

There. He’d dropped that bomb on them.

 

“After being thrown in the Lazarus pit to completely revive me, Talia and her League of Shadows trained me. Then I left and I found out what happened from said contact. After that I got in contact with another hunter, and I got back into the loop. If you ask around bars outside of Gotham, you’ll find that the name Jason Todd means something.”

 

“I wanted to avoid having to tell you. I was just going to leave quietly to go deal with the supernatural side of things, and if I was lucky and survived, I would come back. But it’s a little too late for that now. All I can ask is that you stay out of this. This is bigger than the Joker and the other villains we’ve faced before. I don’t want you guys to get killed because you know me.”

 

Tim had stopped his typing and was now staring at Jason with a contemplative look on his face. Bruce looked slightly shocked, though it was hard to tell past his usually impassive face. But Dick was a totally different story.

 

His expression was completely closed off, and Jason winced. This had definitely been a horrible way to tell him. But he’d had no choice in the matter. It was better if they stayed out of it. “You expect us to believe that all this is real?” Bruce demanded.

 

Jason simply rolled his eyes. “Believe what you want old man. But you know what you saw. Dick knows what he saw. You broke bones and you shot them, but they didn’t die. They only died when their heads were severed from their bodies.”

 

That was when Dick decided to speak up. “Why didn’t you tell us before, Jay?” he asked softly, looking at Jason with those sad eyes. It made him feel like he just kicked a puppy. He should have known that Dick wouldn’t take it well.

 

“I had left that world behind me. I had hoped that I wouldn’t ever have to get involved again, but looks like fate has a different plan. I didn’t tell you because I don’t want any of you to end up like my mom. There’s enough risk here. Why add more?” he explained.

 

Dick was silent for a moment before he reached forward and pulled him into a bone crushing hug. “I can understand your reasons Jay, but we can handle ourselves. We can help you” he whispered in his ear. Jason buried his head into Dick’s shoulder and just held his boyfriend tightly.

 

“Well… I know I’m going to be sleeping a lot less soundly from now on.” Barbara declared, effectively ruining the moment. “But what is going to happen now? Exactly how big of a deal is this supernatural thing you have to deal with? And how are we going to help?”

 

He pulled his head up from where it was buried in Dick’s shoulder and stared at her shocked. “Oh no. You guys are _not_ going to be helping. The fucking apocalypse is going to be happening. There’s no way you’re getting involved.” he told her.

 

“And there’s no way you’re going to go into, what is apparently the apocalypse, alone either!” Tim argued. Jason shot him a glare. This brat was not helping.

 

“I’m not going in alone” he replied flippantly. “I’ll have Bobby - my other contact - and his protege, another hunter named Garth.” This didn’t seem to please anyone as Tim’s eyes bugged out of his head, Barbara spit out the sip of coffee she’d been about to take, and even Alfred looked slightly taken aback.

 

Dick pulled away from the hug he was giving Jason. “Uh no. That’s not sufficient back up. I’m going with you. No arguments.” He declared. Jason switched his glare over to him and he opened his mouth to argue but then he saw the determined look on his face and wisely decided against arguing with his boyfriend.

 

“Fine…” he sighed. The smug look on Dick’s face almost made him want to change his mind, but once Dick set his mind to something he saw it through. Instead Jason just rolled his eyes.

 

“Good.” Bruce said, “now catch us up to speed on the whole ‘apocalypse’ deal”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have anything to say about this story (a suggestion, comment, concern, question, etc.) then please comment down below. If you would like to receive an email when I next update the story than please subscribe!


	26. Last Time on Supernatural

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what? Fuck it... I'm no closer to being finished chapter 27 than I was 2 weeks ago. I'm just going to post this because it's been a long ass time since the last one went up and I don't like having too long between updates. It pisses me off. 
> 
> I'd like to apologize because the next update will be awhile. I'm currently on a road trip across the US, so I don't have all that much time to write. (Despite what I originally thought, it's pretty difficult to write on the road. All the stuff I try to write turns out shitty.) Also! I have a horrible case of writer's block, so things aren't going so well. I think I'll take a small break, maybe write some oneshots and get back into the groove of things. Then I can turn out better content.

You could say that Sam's life was quite the train wreck. There was just so many reasons why in just his short life. When he was 6 months old his mother was killed by a demon, making his father take them on countless suicide missions in a desperate attempt at vengeance. He claimed it was for justice. But hunting after the demon (and other supernatural beings on the way) and messing up your children’s lives in the process wasn't a hunt for justice.

 

It was for revenge.

 

So he had a rather rough childhood between moving and hunting the things that went bump in the night. He never had a stable childhood because he was always there for only a week. He was never all that good at making friends because he always befriended the outcasts and the nerds.

 

They were like him. They didn't fit in.

 

But then he'd had to leave. He'd had to leave them behind and start over again. That wasn't all that he'd had to deal with as a child. No, his one rock in his life, his older brother, just up and left one day. He had been a young boy, and he'd almost been killed by some monster.

 

It wasn't exactly all that rare an occurrence, but it was still alarming even to this day. But then, Dean had mysteriously disappeared and they'd been driving off to a new city without him. His dad claimed that Dean had run away. And if Sam was going to be honest with himself, it wasn't all that hard to believe.

 

Dean had always been a flight risk. John claimed he simply didn't care for hunting, and that it was good that he was gone. He was a liability and they were better off without him. Who knows how many more times Dean would almost get Sam killed right? Sam didn't exactly like hunting all that much either, but he was smart enough to know that despite the circumstances, he had the best chance of survival if he stuck with his dad.

 

Dean was probably dead by now anyway.

 

And so, Sam grew up without a brother. His dad had always been distant, and as Sam grew older, they began to argue about stupid things. With the peacemaker that had always been Dean - because even at such a young age, they’d argued and fought - gone, their fights were inevitable.

 

And they only escalated because there was no one to take the fall and try to get them to understand each other. It grew to a point where they couldn't stand to be near each other. John would storm out after a screaming match and get completely smashed then return to whatever motel room they were staying at and rant about Dean.

 

It was times like that that caused Sam to really despise his older brother. He'd abandoned them. Broken the whole 'family is everything' spiel. It wasn't fair that Dean got a chance to escape when Sam hadn't. He should have at least taken Sam  with him. Maybe they'd have ended up on the streets, but to Sam anything seemed better than hunting.

 

He absolutely hated it.

 

But maybe it wasn't all hunting. Maybe the hate had to do with the person he was hunting with. Nothing he did ever pleased John anymore. When he did research his father deemed him too nerdy, even if the knowledge that he'd gathered had ended up saving their lives.

 

If he went left while John went right, then John would somehow find a way to spin anything that went wrong with that hunt on Sam. It didn't help that he was drunk 90% of the time either.

 

Sam didn't remember exactly when the drinking had started up again. He'd always been a lover of alcohol, but now he was completely dependent on the stuff. He was rarely sober and it almost always caused problems on hunts.

 

And every time they had a fight John would get completely smashed without fail. Then he'd proceed to rant all about how Dean had abandoned them. How despite how 'horrible' Sam was at hunting, Dean was still a bigger disappointment.

 

Then he'd completely turn it around and rant about how if Dean had stayed with them then maybe he'd actually have a partner he could rely on. Maybe there would be a better and less volatile relationship between Sam and himself.

 

Sam couldn't really see that happening. They were just too different. But John was never sensible when he was drunk. But then one night after they'd had a fight about Sam going off to college (Sam had been accepted at Stanford! With a scholarship and everything. It was an amazing opportunity and he didn't want to give it up. Of course John thought it was horrible and a waste of time. Why did Sam need college if he was going to be a hunter?), John had suddenly gone really quiet mid rant about how useless his sons were.

 

Usually John was a rather loud drunk, especially when he was ranting at Sam about his life choices. So the fact that he'd suddenly gone real quiet right then immediately set off alarms in his head.

 

So he started to pay attention to what John was saying. He started speaking in a low tone. "Do you remember the night before Dean left?" he asked softly. Sam unsure as to whether he was meant to respond just remained silent. "You were just a small little boy. And you'd almost died that night because Dean had been careless" he continued, unbothered by Sam's lack of response.

 

"I'd gotten very angry Sam. And you have to understand... I did what was best for all of us." he grumbled. This set off even more warning bells in Sam's head. This was when Sam chose to respond.

 

"What do you mean you 'did what was best for all of us'?" he asked in a careful tone. He really didn't like the sound of where this was going. It wasn't looking good. Usually when John got this serious - especially now that he was drunk all of the time - it usually meant he'd fucked up in a major way.

 

Sam could only remember a couple other times when he'd been like this. Once when he'd forgotten Sam's birthday and had tried to apologize, and once a couple years back when he'd tried to file a missing person’s report for Dean. That hadn't exactly ended well, especially when the police found out that he'd been missing for a while.

 

The point is, it had to be a major fuck up, or John would wait until he was a tiny bit more sober. But even those two other times hadn't been like this. John had still been quiet and serious, but now he was almost... sad. "Dean didn't run away, Sam." he mumbled before turning to stare Sam right in the eye. "I left him behind in the motel. I took you and just drove off" he admitted.

 

To say Sam was shocked would be an understatement. It was mind boggling. He couldn't wrap his head around it. All these years, he'd thought that Dean had wanted to leave. That Dean had abandoned them. But now he knows it's actually the opposite. Dean had had no choice in the matter. _He_ had been the one that had been left behind. _He_ had been the one who was betrayed.

 

John had drilled it into his head that Dean was a good for nothing traitor. But in reality, John was the traitor. He'd taught Sam that family was everything, and yet he'd left a 10 year old boy to fend for himself because he'd made one mistake.

 

Sam felt so many emotions that he couldn't quite tell what was the strongest one. He was angry. Angry at the fact that John had lied to him all these years. Angry that he'd been stupid enough to believe the bullshit that John had been feeding him.

 

But he also felt guilty. So so guilty that he'd believed what John had said. That he'd believed that Dean was a bad person. Dean wasn't the bad guy anymore. Now all the anger and blame that Sam had originally placed on the shoulders of his - probably long dead - brother had been added to the pile of hate he'd placed on John's own.

 

He could barely stand the sight of the pathetic man before him. He was so disgusted by that behavior. Hell, he was disgusted by his own behavior towards Dean's memories. "How could you?" He growled, tears beginning to gather in his eyes. How could John- no, how could their father ever justify this?

 

Clearly John was going to try because he began to speak. "He'd almost gotten you killed! What was I supposed to do? I was going to go back for him in a couple of days..." he trails off seeing Sam shake his head. He really couldn't believe that John actually thought that that was an excuse to _abandon your child._

 

That wasn't even in the same realm as okay. "No you weren't." he said after a moment os silence. He thought he couldn't have been anymore disgusted by John Winchester, but the sullen and accepting look that John was now sporting proved that theory wrong.

 

He shook his head again as he began to gather up his stuff. Lately, he'd taken to leaving nothing in the impala because he'd been planning on leaving at some point. There was no way that he was turning down that offer for college. He just never thought it would be this soon. He couldn't stand to be in this motel room any longer.

 

He grabbed his bags (one for clothes and personal belongings, and another for weapons because despite what John thought, he did know that you never really stop being a hunter. At the very least he wanted to be able to protect himself if the supernatural came after him) and moved towards the door.

 

He'd buy a bus ticket and head over to the campus. He'd already let the school know that he'd accepted their very generous invitation. He'd told them about how his father was less than pleased, and they let him know that he'd have a dorm room waiting for him. It was just a matter of actually getting to the campus.

 

But he had enough money to get there, and he'd faked a resume that would allow him to have a decent job to help pay for some of his tuition and living.

 

It seems that after all the previous yelling and the more serious confession, John had passed out. His head drooped and he fell out of his chair and he began to snore on the carpet of the motel room. Sam sent one last sneer before he left the motel room and the man he once called his dad, for good.

 

Or at least that's what he thought.

 

* * *

 

After leaving behind the supernatural world (well as much as he could without endangering himself and others around him by being completely helpless) he began to be truly happy. Sure it may seem cliche, but there was no father and no family business hanging over his head anymore.

 

There wasn't the worry about whether today would be the day that he kicks the bucket or not. No stress about hiding the reason he was there from his peers. All he had to worry about was making sure he learned and understood the material enough to pass. It was something he enjoyed doing, even if the exams were as stressful as taking on a pack of vamps.

 

He was finally able to be the normal kid - with a bit of family issues, but in this day and age, who doesn't? - that he'd wanted to be since he could understand that he wasn't like everyone else. He was finally able to make friends without having to worry about leaving them anytime soon.

 

He was able to get good grades and take the classes he wanted to without having people put him down for it. Sure John had been proud he was intelligent, but he didn't approve of how he used his intelligent at all. But now there were others there for him that were happy that he was doing well.

 

That were happy that he was succeeding and living out his dream. They supported him in a way that no one in his life had ever actually done before. And then something else amazing happened. He met someone who was genuinely interested in him. And who he was genuinely interested in.

 

Her name was Jessica Moore. He called her Jess. And she was as beautiful as an angel.

 

She was kind and gentle, and yet she could be stern and confident when she wanted to be. She always knew the right things to say and when to say them. Her smile was as bright as the sun and her laughter helped him get through the tough days. He loved her with all of his heart.

 

And sometimes, while living this perfect normal life, he forgot about the supernatural and John and Dean. But then everything went wrong. Not the wrong like putting salt into your coffee instead of sugar. No, the wrong like you took a wrong turn and now you're being followed on an abandoned road by a rather large and threatening truck.

 

The supernatural returned to his world in a very bright and a very loud fashion. It killed his girlfriend. Imagine his surprise and horror, to return home from one of his lectures to find his girlfriend on the ceiling, her stomach cut open, and on fire.

 

It was just like how his mom died.

 

It was no coincidence. Then again, nothing in the supernatural world ever is. He'd barely made it out of the apartment alive. There was no way he could have saved Jess. But that didn't mean he couldn't avenge her. It was at that moment that he understood what had driven John to hunt down the Yellow Eyed Demon.

 

Now he'd be hunting it as well. It was a day after Jessica's funeral when he left. No one knew where he went or why he left. He just up and vanished. But Sam had a lot of work ahead of him. If he wanted to track down the son of a bitch that killed both his mom and Jess, then he'd have to track down John Winchester.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry that things are kinda going horrible, but at least we finally got to Sam's situation? Anyway, please comment. I love hearing anything you guys have to say. Oh, and subscribe if you want an email notification fro when I finally get off my ass and finish the next chapter.


	27. This Time on Supernatural

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG sorry for all of the mistakes, my computer doesn't want to load anything and the wifi is shitty.
> 
> But this chapter is dedicated to [MaddyR](http://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddyR/pseuds/MaddyR)  
> It's their 16th birthday! So happy birthday and I hope that this update is satisfactory.

Sam hadn’t had all that much luck in the years that came after his girlfriend was murdered. Getting back into the routine of hunting was harder than he’d thought. It didn’t help that he was alone either.

 

It also didn’t help that his father seemed to have vanished. But according to Bobby he was still alive somehow. It had still been unsettling to find his journal in one of the hotel rooms. (An employee told him that his ‘uncle’ had come to drop off the book for him and left. He’d driven a 1967 Chevy Impala)

 

But he’d eventually managed to track down his father. Eventually.

 

It had taken an awfully long time and a large number of hunts that he’d had to take solo. He didn’t remember Bobby’s number, so it wasn’t like he could just call in reinforcements. He was fine on his own anyway.

 

Sure it would have been useful to have a partner to hunt with… it was never wise to bite off more than one could chew, and solo hunting was difficult. But you know, Winchester pride.

 

Besides he did well enough on his own. He ganked anything that he came across on his journey to find his father. He had also kept an eye and ear out for any type of news on the whereabouts of a certain yellow eyed demon.

 

He figured that John would most likely have gotten the same information as he did and would head in the same general direction. But when he’d found him, it had been more of a coincidence.

 

But who was Sam to look a gift horse in the mouth?

 

Once he started hunting with John again, he began to remember just why he’d left. They fought constantly, but they stayed together because they had a common goal and it was safer to hunt in a team than alone.

 

It was a miracle that they’d survived so long as solo hunters in the first place. But then the whole deal with the Yellow Eyed Demon went down and it turns out that Sam had superpowers because of drinking demon blood as a child!

 

That discovery went over well. John had immediately flipped out, but in the end the powers had turned out to be very useful when they were trying to track down the demon. Along the way they found other people like Sam.

 

That had been ‘chosen’ by the demon for some greater purpose that Sam really didn’t care to remember anyway. He was too busy figuring out how to escape with his life and kill the demon in the process.

 

But everything worked out well enough. They managed to kill the demon after getting some help from Bobby and his new protege Garth. Geeze that kid was annoying, and way too friendly to be a hunter.

 

The Winchester’s were honestly puzzled as to how he managed to survive so long without a partner. And if he had a partner how he hadn’t been killed by said partner yet.

 

He seemed new to the whole hunting gig, and yet he was actually a somewhat capable hunter. And by hunter he means researcher. He just wasn't built to go out on the field. And it made Sam uneasy to allow him to continue to hunt.

 

Then everything had been pretty calm for a while. That is up until they started finding more and more people making deals. Well their deals coming to a close anyway. The hell hounds were unsettling, and the demons that came with them were even more unsettling.

 

They weren't violent, in fact they just seemed to be rather amused by them. They would constantly talk about how ‘they would get what's coming for them’ and stuff about the apocalypse? It set off so many alarm bells it wasn't even funny.

 

That went on for about a month before they had their first sighting. First sighting of what you may ask, and you’ll be pleased/horrified/puzzled to find out that the sightings were of angels. Sam had always held out and hoped that angels actually existed.

 

If there was demons then there had to be angels, right?

 

Turns out angels aren't exactly all sunshine and rainbows. But Sam was so used to disappointment at this point that he just didn't care anymore. It was kind of sad really. Though what didn't help was the first angel they met calling Sam an abomination.

 

That angel was named Castiel, and he is an angel of the lord. He seemed rather put out when he discovered that Dean wasn't with them. In fact, the whole reason that he actually made himself known to them was to demand to see Dean Winchester. He claimed that God had a plan for him and Sam and that he needed to see Michael's vessel.

 

He really wasn't all that happy to find out that they hadn't seen Dean since Dean was 9. Although they knew he was alive seeing as John had apparently gotten a call from him 7 years before that let them know Dean was alive.

 

They hadn't heard from him since. When told this Castiel had looked very frustrated. Then he declared that he would be staying with them until they were able to find Dean and restore the balance, pr whatever.

 

They learned real fast that they weren't getting rid of the angel - Castiel, Sam keeps insisting - until they found Dean.

 

So they did the logical thing. Well, after several months of trying to ditch the angel and being very unsuccessful. They called Bobby and asked him for help. John didn't want to, but Sam pointed out that the last time they heard from Dean was at Bobby’s.

 

Bobby was more likely to know. And that's how they ended up driving to the salvage yard and showing up unannounced, scaring the crap out of Bobby in the process. They'd spent a good 2 hours explaining to Bobby all that had happened and why they needed his help.

 

“I can't get you Dean Winchester, he didn't give me any contact information. But I can get you a hunter that can help you find him. He has connections that make our illegalities look like breaking the dress code. You heard of Jason Todd?” Bobby tells them reluctantly. He didn't look like he wanted to tell them any of this, let alone call in Jason Todd.

 

Sam had in fact heard of Jason Todd. He'd first heard of him when he'd been searching for John. It was all the hunters in bars could talk about. He was like insanely skilled and was well known in the hunting world. He flew solo, and he loved violence and guns. He always got the job done. Sometimes he even miraculously showed up out of the blue to save some random hunter.

 

His name was more famous than Winchester in the hunting world. It was something that actually really pissed John off. After hearing that Jason Todd would be the one that would be helping them, John threw a fit. He hated asking other hunters for help, and it was insult to injury that it was a hunter who was better than himself.

 

But Sam gave the go ahead because what else could they really do? There was only so much, and this was the first serious lead they've had. It wasn't really a lead, but if anyone can find Dean, it will be Jason Todd.

 

So Bobby called. Someone on the other end picked up the phone, but they couldn't hear the other person. So all they got was a one sided conversation.

 

“Idgit. I have a hunter that needs your help. It's about the apocalypse.” Conversation starting out relatively normal, but John bristled at the wording that Bobby chose. He made it sound like they were newbies that Jason needed to rescue.

 

“They're hunters looking for Dean Winchester. It's Sam and John Winchester, and they're working with an angel. I told the idgits that I’d get ‘em a hunter who could help them.” He mumbled something softly so that they couldn't hear, and then his voice rose to a normal level again. “And since when do you have a partner?”

 

That caught Sam’s interest. Jason Todd was well known for always flying solo. He'd been known to say that a partner was just a distraction and a liability. To hear that he'd found someone that actually met his standards was shocking to say the least.

 

“What? Is he even trained? Dammit Jason, you can't take a newbie out into the field!”

 

Oh that was certainly something. Not just a partner but a complete newbie? That wouldn't go over well with anyone. This entire room (well Castiel didn't really count) frowned upon getting outsiders in on the reality that the creatures that go bump in the night actually exist.

 

“Yeah, and?”

 

“Who is this and why do you have Jason’s phone?”

 

That didn't sound good at all. Not one bit. There was a warning edge in Bobby’s voice that promised a verbal beating if he didn't get an answer _right then_.

 

“No offense, _Detective Grayson_ , but I highly doubt a police officer is ready to handle a supernatural threat. They're nothing like the petty human thieves you have to deal with. ”

 

So his partner was a cop. That was always fun to deal with. They were always trying to find a way to hunt legally. They got in the way and seemed to think that their government issued handgun would be enough to take on everything in the world. Then Bobby’s eyes widened in shock and he sent an incredulous look at the phone in his hand.

 

“Fine. Tell Jason that I expect to see you guys tomorrow. I’ll let Sam, John and Castiel know that you're coming.” Then Bobby abruptly hung up and slammed the phone on the counter.

 

“Goddammit” he growled. Sam was concerned, but he waited for Bobby to continue. “You heard, his partner’s a cop. They come from Gotham, so they've seen some shit, but this is probably the first time I've ever heard of someone getting into hunting because they ended up killing an entire nest of vamps.”

 

That made Sam pause. Holy hell, these people were serious. He’d always avoided Gotham, preferring to stock to fighting the evil that he knew. It was better to leave the crazies to the vigilantes that protected the city.

 

“So they're coming?” Sam asked, wanting to confirm that they'd actually get to meet these strange Gotham hunters. Bobby nodded. “Tomorrow” he confirmed.

 

Well shit. Tomorrow was going to be something. Sam wasn't sure if it would be a good or bad something. But it would be something.

 

* * *

 

 

After the big reveal things had gone rather smoothly… for the first 5 minutes. He had really only explained the bare minimum of his life, and his family demanded to hear about everything. And they meant _everything_.

 

Tim seemed to have an endless amount of questions about the supernatural. He asked everything from ‘how do you banish a reaper?’ to ‘how do demons reproduce?’ All in all, there were many awkward questions.

 

Luckily he managed to pass Tim off on his journal - where he’d written all of the relevant information on every supernatural creature he’d ever heard of - while he went on the answer the other’s questions.

 

Bruce was very focused on his past as a hunter. He wanted to know everything possible about John Winchester and the first 9 years of his life. He frowned at John’s treatment of his children, but he really wasn’t one to talk considering h turned around and tough both himself and Dick at the age of 9.

 

But he was still more careful with their training. They also wore protective gear - no matter how much Jason insisted that flannel shirts were as good protective gear as any, Bruce didn’t seem convinced - so there was that.

 

Meanwhile Dick was obsessed with finding out what Jason was doing in the hunting world _now_. He wanted to know how the supernatural had an effect on his return from death and just how involved he was in the hunting world. Would it be weird if he just one day out of the blue had a partner that no one had ever seen or even knew about?

 

Barbara just wanted to know if there were any female hunters, and if so, how many he’d met.

 

There was an awful lot of questions, and he wasn’t done explaining everything until dawn. The Batfamily was of course, used to pulling full 36 hour work periods with intense fighting and having to be perfectly coherent, so a mere 12 hours of being awake was nothing.

 

Sometimes Jason wished that weren’t so - now being one of those times - because then he could have had a break before revealing to his family that they would have to get anti-possession tattoos.

 

That, as expected, did not go over well. Bruce almost immediately declared “absolutely not” in his I-am-Batman-you-will-do-as-I-say voice. Of course Jason immediately responded with “have fun being possessed by demons” in his I-don’t-give-a-fuck-who-you-are-I-do-what-I-want voice. He was quite the stick in the mud when he wanted to be.

 

After a couple minutes of heated argument between Bruce and Jason, the debate was eventually solved by Tim making a passive question as he continued to flip through the rather thick notebook that Jason had. “Do you have one Jason?” he asked casually.

 

Jason shrunk slightly in on himself, because of course that was the exact moment that Alfred decided to return from where he’d gone to get some tea and food for them all. The disapproving gaze that Alfred sent him was way worse than any Bat glare he’d ever seen.

 

He didn’t want to reveal this, but it wasn’t like Dick hadn’t seen all of his tattoos before. *wiggles eyebrows* they had been together for 7 years now. ( _Wow_ they got old really fast. Damn). But showing his tattoos to the disappointed father figure.

 

Not the mention Alfred. Barbara would most likely get a major kick out of the fact that he would always be the rebellious child no matter what he did. Heck he was slaying monsters and shooting guns since he was 5 years old. It wasn’t like he could be anymore of a disappointment at this point.

 

He sighed and began to remove his shirt. It wasn’t anything new, but Dick still gasped in shock anyway. It was quite the sight to see, and not just because he was ripped. To be fair they all were, because you know, _Batfamily_.

 

No what immediately got their attention was the giant scar on his front. It was his autopsy scar, and they all winced at the reminder of Jason’s untimely death. But then he turned around and they were shocked once again.

 

On his back was a tattoo of wings folded. They were damaged and somewhat broken looking, but at the same time they were incredibly graceful and elegant. They were still somewhat confused, but then Jason showed them the upper part of his arm and they saw an intricate yet simple sigil on his upper arm. It was incorporated in a partial sleeve that was separate from his pair of wings.

 

The sleeve was composed of different protective sigils all woven together so that it looked natural, and at first glance, you couldn’t tell that they were a combination of different religious sigils.

 

It was a truly breathtaking arrangement, but all of the others looked slightly faded and were paler than the main protective anti-possession tattoo. That symbol was the darkest. It was pitch black resembled a pentagram with a ring of fire (tendrils almost like that of a sun) around it.

 

All of his tattoos were very well done, and Barbara was not ashamed to express her amazement. “Wow, Jason. Those are beautiful! You’ll have to tell me where you got them done!” She giggled.

 

Jason blushed lightly and rolled his eyes before pointing to the center of his half sleeve to show them the dark black anti-possession symbol. “The tattoo that I’m talking about is this one. It makes sure that you can’t be possessed by a demon as long as the symbol remains unbroken.”

 

Tim looked very interested as he flipped frantically through the notebook and held it up to Jason’s arm to compare the two. He’d flipped the page to the section where he’d recorded all of the different sigils that he knew. It looked like Tim wanted to identify which sigils he had chosen to use.

 

Bruce glared at the sight of both the autopsy scar and the tattoos, but he grudgingly agreed to allowing/ paying for everyone to get the tattoo.

 

And that's the story of how they all ended up at a tattoo parlor that was known for being discreet.

 

They were almost done, Barbara was just getting hers done, when Jason got a call. A call from Bobby. This could not be good. He quickly answered the phone. Bobby never called unless it was important.

 

“It’s Jason. What do you need Bobby” he asked as soon as he picked up. He heard a sigh from the other side of the line.

 

 _“Idgit. I have a hunter that needs your help. It's about the apocalypse.”_ Bobby sounded very serious, and it alarmed Jason. He knew the apocalypse was soon, but he hadn't thought it would be beginning right now. He hadn't had all that much time to brief Dick yet.

 

But there was something else in Bobby’s message that made him uneasy. He didn't mention the hunter by name. “Yeah? My partner and I will be at your place in a couple of days. Who’s the hunter? Is it Garth? Because he has my number.”

 

He heard Bobby sigh over the phone and he just knew that it wasn't going to be good. At best he probably is asked to help the Ghost Facers. _“They're hunters looking for Dean Winchester. It's Sam and John Winchester, and they're working with an angel. I told the idgits that I’d get ‘em a hunter who could help them. I didn't tell them I’d be sending who they're lookin’ for though. And since when do you have a partner?”_

 

Jason winced. Now the Ghost Facers actually seemed like the better option. At least they respected the Red Hood even if they had had no idea who Jason Todd was besides the billionaire Bruce Wayne’s deceased adopted son.

 

He was all for seeing his brother again, he’d even planned on visiting him once upon a time. But then he'd found out that Sam had gotten into Stanford and had left the hunting life behind. After that he hadn't wanted to interfere with Sam’s normal life.

 

But it seems he's been a bit lenient with his surveillance, because somehow, Sam had become a hunter again _and_ joined up with John again. _How?_

 

He scrubbed a hand down his face. He had no idea how to address the situation of the Winchesters and the angel that is with them. “Yeah, he's been with me for about 7 years and I’ve known him since I was 9. Although you have great timing. I just told him about being a hunter now. He refuses to let me go off to fix the apocalypse without him.” He told Bobby in a matter of fact voice.

 

 _“What? Is he even trained? Dammit Jason, you can't take a newbie out into the field!”_ Bobby growled harshly. Jason merely rolled his eyes. Did Bobby really think that be was _that_ stupid. Sure he sometimes has some really bad ideas, but it wasn't like that was anything new.

 

Plus he'd said this guy was his partner. Though it might be somewhat his fault considering he hadn't told Bobby about his involvement as the Red Hood and his past as Robin. He’d hinted at the fact that he was a Batboy, but it wasn't like Bobby bothered to watch the news. He still hadn't told him just who Jason Todd was to the rest of the world.

 

Then there was the whole not telling Bobby that he was even dating anyone, let alone his adopted sibling. At least Bobby didn't seem all that concerned with the fact that he was dating a guy.

 

“Bobby, you know how I told you I started over in Gotham and got involved in some pretty dangerous things?” He said somewhat uncertainly. That was of course the moment when Dick’s head snapped up to face him.

 

He walked over and wrapped his arms around Jason’s waist. Leaning his head on the shoulder next to Jason's cell. That sneaky little shit, he just wanted to listen in now. He turned and mouthed “Bobby” to Dick. He might as well know who he was hearing.

 

_“Yeah, and?”_

 

“Well… My partner may have gotten involved in the same dangerous stuff.” He said carefully. He didn't want to reveal his Gotham stuff until he had to. And he definitely didn't want to compromise Dick’s identity until they had to either.

 

He heard Bobby scoff on the other end and he winced again. Yup that had to be one of the most vague explanations he's given yet. Dick rolled his eyes before taking the phone from Jason. “Hello Mr. Singer. I assure you, I am most capable. Handling the supernatural will be no issue for me.”

 

 _“Who is this and why do you have Jason’s phone?”_ Bobby growled angrily. Jason slapped Dick’s shoulder. That was not the way to go about this. Dick merely smiled serenely.

 

“This is Detective Grayson” oh so this was how it was going to go. Admittedly it did work with the vague answer Jason had given himself. “And I’m Jaybird’s boyfriend!” He finished cheerily. Jason wanted to facepalm, but he settled for scowling at Dick instead.

 

 _“No offense,_ Detective Grayson, _but I highly doubt a police officer is ready to handle a supernatural threat. They're nothing like the petty human thieves you have to deal with. ”_ Bobby answered sarcastically. This time Jason did facepalm. Just perfect. His boyfriend was already on Bobby's shit list and he hadn't even officially met the guy yet.

 

“No need to sound so negative! I assure you I am more than qualified. You seem to have me confused with other police officers! You see I work in Gotham! So that means I’ve had the unfortunate pleasure of taking down the criminally insane. They're far worse!” He blundered on, never losing his cheerful tone of voice that always succeeded in pissing people off.

 

“Did Little Wing not mention that the only reason that I found out about the supernatural was because I had to fight off a nest of vampires?” He continued on, not leaving any room for Bobby’s input. Jason wanted to slap him. He’d been revealing far too many annoying nicknames that he just _knew_ would make their way back to Garth.

 

Though that last comment from Dick seemed to stun Bobby for a moment. _“Fine. Tell Jason that I expect to see you guys tomorrow. I’ll let Sam, John and Castiel know that you're coming.”_ Bobby said gruffly before abruptly hanging up.

 

Dick pouted slightly before turning and telling Jason in a poor imitation of Bobby’s voice, “he expects to see us tomorrow and he’s going to let Sam, John and Castiel know that we’re coming.”

 

This time Jason did hit him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always please comment and subscribe!


	28. The Long Awaited Meeting Pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna write it all in one chapter... but then I got lazy and realized that I hadn't updated in a while... so here's half of the confrontation. Things get... exciting in the next chapter. I'm just about to start it now.
> 
> Anyway... many thanks to [Banner](http://archiveofourown.org/users/FireflyBanner/pseuds/Banner) for the idea for Jason's ride. I hadn't thought about it.

It was a long drive to Sioux falls from Gotham. Driving by car it wouldn’t take too long, they’d be able to make it for the time that Bobby specified. But Jason was never one for cars. Well, modern cars. Classics were more his style, but he did realize that it wouldn’t be practical, even if it was for a hunt. No, he’d gotten a beautiful sleek black bike that he’d modified to fit his… lifestyle.

 

If there’s anything that all of the members of the Batfamily have in common, it’s their love for toys.

 

Batman alone had an impressive collection of different vehicles and weapons. Adding in all that his collective proteges have, it’s a very impressive arsenal. Jason was the one Robin who truly shared Bruce’s love for… accessories. He was usually a muscle car kind of guy, but that just wasn’t practical for his life style.

 

He’d modified his motorcycle to hold quite a lot of weaponry, and almost all of it is hunting related, but there are some of his typical Batboy gear. Explosives, gun, different traps, you name it he’s got it. He’s got cans of spray paint, salt, and different knives and machetes. All made of different metals of course. One in silver and one in iron.

 

You could never be too careful with the equipment. Despite his skills concerning modifying his tech, he was still sometimes surprised at just how much he was able to fit onto the bike without it being too weighed down or too visible. It shouldn’t have been possible, but everything was pretty easily accessible, and it was also locked in tight enough that none of it would detach on a rough ride.

 

He’d made sure to test it out multiple times on different terrain. As well as for different periods of time. Nothing had dislodged anything off of the bike yet, so he thinks he’s in the clear. It was actually a pretty big motorcycle too. Sleek, but it can comfortably sit two if needed. It was actually very similar to Bruce’s motorcycle in design. Jason just had more accessible weapons than Bruce did.

 

Bruce tended to prefer hand to hand, like Dick. He was more of a weapons guy himself. It suited him hunting image well enough, and despite a motorcycle not being a conventional hunting vehicle, it worked well enough for him. Jason Todd was known as a rather unusual hunter as it is.

 

So, after checking that he’d have everything he needed, including a small pack filled with Dick’s weponry, they packed some clothes and began the long drive to Sioux Falls. They arrived around sunset. Jason parked his motorcycle grabbed his bag and hopped off, Dick following his example.

 

They’d gone for wearing their gear, Jason in his Kevlar suit and cargo pants, along with his trademark leather Jackets, and Dick in his modified police uniform with his spandex underneath. This was going to be the first impression made on Jason’s biological family.

 

They might as well make it a good one. And by good one, they really mean impressive. Strike fear and respect into them now. Once they find out who Jason really is, they’ll lose respect for him, and by extension Dick. They’re already going to have problems due to the nature of their relationship, as well as the fact that Dick is both a police officer and the adopted son of a billionaire.

 

Oh and a complete newbie concerning the supernatural.

 

But then again, finding out that they’re vigilantes might give them some respect. And with John’s attitude according to what Jason’s told him, he’ll just be a major problem no matter what. Although Dick will have a lot of fun playing with the hunters, and seeing how long they’ll believe that he’s just a happy go lucky police officer who just happens to be dating a gang leader.

 

Playing up the first impression is important, it will also allow them to test how capable these hunters are. He trusts Jason to be able to protect him and watch his back. He’s not so sure about these hunters skills. He doesn’t trust what he doesn’t know.

 

But, now it’s time to get the show on the road. Jason slung his bag and an AK-47 over his shoulder. Dick still didn’t understand where he’d hidden _that_. Dick picked up his backpack and made sure that he had his standard glock in the holster on his waist.

 

He sent a blinding grin at Jason as Jason pulled on his red helmet. Jason nodded and then they were walking towards the house in the middle of the scrap yard. The lights were still on in the little house, so they were waiting up for them then.

 

Dick’s grin turned a little feral. Yep. This was going to be fun.

 

* * *

 

Sam was waiting impatiently in the kitchen along with all the others. John was pacing anxiously, although he’ll never admit to it. Castiel was sitting awkwardly on the counter, not moving or fidgeting at all. Bobby was sitting calmly on a chair and nursing a beer.

 

Apparently Todd and his _partner_ , hadn’t been all that specific with the time of their arrival. They’d been waiting for hours, and it was almost dark out now. Sure Todd probably wasn’t all that close to this location when he got Bobby’s call, but surely they should have arrived by now.

 

But they were still waiting.

 

Sam was both nervous and excited. Jason Todd was the key to finding where his older brother was. It was very important that they find Dean before the other angels. They wouldn’t be nearly as nice about letting Dean know what his duty was as Castiel will be. And that’s saying something!

 

Already Castiel was beginning to rethink what he’d originally imagined about the Winchesters. It was needless to say that Sam hadn’t taken the fact that he was Lucifer’s vessel. He’d refused to become the devil’s meatsuit. He’s sure that no matter how much Dean might have changed from the caring brother he barely remembered, that he wouldn’t be ok with the whole deaths of thousands of innocents thing.

 

It was against everything a hunter knew. At the very least hopefully Jason would be against that. But then again, all they had on Jason and his partner, was speculation and Bobby’s word. Not all that reassuring. But maybe if they couldn’t get Dean to help, then Jason and his partner might be able to help them find a solution.

 

They can’t exactly force Dean into anything, especially considering the fact that he probably had a normal life now. Who would voluntarily get back into hunting if they’d gotten out?

 

Ok, well he did sure, but he did it for revenge.

 

Shut up.

 

He was broken from his thoughts by a loud knock on the door. It was sudden and jarring, and he was _definitely_ not the only one to jump from the sudden break in the silence. He quickly straightened from where he was leaning against the counter, eager to see the hunter and his partner.

 

Bobby smiled ruefully before setting down his beer and getting up to answer the door. He heaved himself up out of his chair, and Sam can’t help but think that Bobby should be in better shape considering he’s a hunter. If only he’d drink less beer.

 

He lumbered over to the door and quickly pulled it open. The open door hide the two figures that walked in, but they could still see Bobby, and hear the voices of the two arrivals. At first Bobby’s expression was shocked, but then he rolled his eyes. “Idjits. You’re late” he growled in a way that only Bobby could.

 

There was a light laugh that was clearly male. “Sorry we’re late Mr. Singer, but Jason can only drive so fast.” a male voice said. He was cheerful and bright, never once betraying anything but the common pleasantries. No weariness what so ever. No indication that he was here to discuss the apocalypse.

 

Sam was confused. That was a male voice, but… he’d referred to the other person as Jason. Didn’t Bobby say that Jason and his partner would be coming? Was Jason a female? No that’s ridiculous. All the rumours that he’d heard about Jason clearly stated that Todd was a male. Maybe he was just a hunting buddy.

 

No wait, that didn’t make sense. According to the phone conversation, this partner only found out about the whole supernatural deal recently. This entire situation was weird. Then a gruff lower male voice spoke. It was slightly muffled, as if he was wearing a helmet. “So where’s the angel and the Winchesters?” it asked.

 

Bobby gave a sigh before giving whoever was behind the door a pointed look, as if appraising their appearances. He then proceeded to close the door and usher the two male figures in. The slightly taller one was clearly older, maybe mid 30s. He was dressed in a standard police uniform, and had a duffle bag in his left hand.

 

His other hand was relaxed, but rested on the gun at his waist. He was ready to draw that gun if the situation required it, but he either trusted his partner to handle the situation, or didn’t believe it would be too necessary. He had black windswept hair, and startling blue eyes. He had a bright grin on his face, but his eyes were guarded and watchful.

 

The other was someone who drew his attention more. He was shorter than the police officer, but that didn’t mean he looked less threatening. It was impossible to tell if he was younger or older than the other. That was because he was wearing a bright red helmet. Well that explains the muffled voice.

 

But that wasn’t even the most striking thing about the mystery man either. He was pretty distracted from everything else because that man had an AK-47 just draped casually over his shoulders. Who does that? This guy was crazy.

 

After gawking at the gun for a couple seconds, his eyes were able to focus on taking in the rest of the man’s visible features. He was more muscular than the police officer, shown in the snug way the Kevlar top fit him. But he was also lean, like swimmer. It was a confusing combination. Somehow he was even more relaxed than the police officer who was grinning widely.

 

He seemed to be treating this like somewhat of a joke. His stance speaks of amusement. And yet he was prepared like the other. It was odd. Almost as odd as the strange as the red bat symbol that was splayed proudly on his chest.

 

There was an awkward staring contest going on for a few seconds. The two new arrivals didn’t move at all, just letting us take it all in. Then when Bobby began to shift uncomfortably, the man wearing the helmet, removed said helmet. He was smirking at them, his smile much more malevolent than the police officers.

 

He held the gun lazily in his one hand as he used the other to wave at the assembled people in the room. “Hi, I’m Jason Todd. And this is my partner… Dick Grayson.” he said. Now that his helmet was off, it was easier for Sam to guess his age. He looked to be in his mid 20s, so younger than the partner.

 

He too, had black hair, but there was a tiny bit of his roots showing, proving that he was in fact not naturally black haired. Sam didn’t quite know how this information was important to note, but it was something on this complete mystery that was fact. But there was something odd about his eyes. They were a strange, almost luminescent, green.

 

It was the sinister type of color that Disney associated with villains. They glinted, with amusement and glee. They were dangerous, and they promised trouble. Sam made a decision not to trust this man. He was dangerous, and he seemed like the type to revel in death.

 

Seeing as neither John nor Castiel were going to react anytime soon - John out of pure stubbornness and resentment for Bobby having to call another hunter in, and Castiel because awkward silence can go on for hours with this guy and he _will not be bothered_ and because he’ll most likely make the situation even more awkward if he does talk - decided to speak up.

 

“I’m Sam Winchester, and this is John. The man sitting on the counter is Castiel. He’s an angel of the lord.” he introduced everyone. The police officer, now introduced as Dick Grayson, smiled kindly at him.

 

“It’s nice to meet you Sam. I’ve heard a lot about all of you from Jason. I look forward to working with you.” he said kindly. He seemed like a kind person. He spoke softly, and his temperament reminded Sam of a mother figure. He seemed a lot like Jess’s mother. All kindness and good intentions.

 

It seemed weird that he was with Jason. The type of man that Jason was wouldn’t ordinarily cross paths with a cop. Let alone a nice, clean cop. And Sam knew that he was, because he didn’t seem like the type to work with criminals.

 

Sam learned that he should trust his gut, and his gut told him that Dick - it’s unfortunate that he had that name; Sam couldn’t really tell what was worse, Dick or Richard - was one of the good guys. But there was still something that was nagging at the back of his mind.

 

There was something off about his smile. It was just a bit forced, and if he hadn’t spent his entire childhood forcing his own smiles, then he would never have known. This guy was good. But that made him question _why_ the smile was forced.

 

Dick should have no idea of what he was like. He shouldn’t be hostile towards him, but something in the tight edges of his smile spoke of how unhappy he was with the situation. This made Sam weary. Anyone who could lie so convincingly - Sam truly doubts that he actually looks forward to working with them - with a right and honest looking smile on their face was dangerous.

 

He nodded, and he didn’t think it was possible, but Jason’s smirk turned even sharper. “Well, I never thought I’d be in the presence of an ‘angel of the lord” he said mockingly, dropping his duffel bag onto the floor and leaning on the counter. “I honestly never believed in all that ‘greater power’ mumbo jumbo. I ain’t starting now, so don’t get your hopes up… _angel_.” He growled.

 

The sudden blatant hostility was surprising. One minute he was a smug smarmy douche bag, and the next he was a predator. Someone you didn’t want to cross. Castiel looked confused. “You humans are just so silly. Refusing to accept the truth” he started in a monotone. Dick raised his eyebrow at the deep sound of Castiel’s voice, but Jason just scoffed.

 

“Yeah, and this ‘silly human’ is going to be the one who’s saving all of your asses. Now… let’s get down to business. Why were we called in?” he asked, the sarcastic bite of his words was aggressive. Not in any way friendly. He didn’t seem too pleased with being here at all.

 

“We need your help to find Dean Winchester. He’s my brother and we know he’s alive but just not where.” I said, meanwhile John grumbled “we don’t need help” from behind me. I resisted the urge to hit him. He wasn’t making this any easier. I would have too, if Jason hadn’t looked so damned amused by this entire situation.

 

“And why” he began, “is this Dean so important? Why do you need him exactly? Also, what did you do… misplace him?” he seemed to be taking way too much pleasure in their predicament.

 

“We need him because he’s another vessel for an angel. I’m the vessel for Lucifer, and Dean is the vessel for Michael. The other angels want us to let those two use our bodies to fight the apocalypse out. We need to find him so that the angels can’t get their hands on him. There has to be another way to solve this.” He explained.

 

Dick raised an eyebrow. He opened his mouth to respond to Sam’s statement, but he was cut off by non other than Castiel. “Finding Dean Winchester is no longer necessary. You’ve brought him with you. Why do you dye your hair?” he asks in his usual blunt manner. Dick shut his mouth, his jaw clenched tightly.

 

He looked like he was about to talk, but he was yet again interrupted. But this time by a hand on his shoulder. The two newcomers shared a look, before Jason turned to level a cool stare on Castiel. It contained none of the former amusement. Instead it was cold; dead.

 

“Well, someone decided to spill the beans before their time. You didn’t even let me have my _fun_.” he said. Well more like snarled. “And for the record… I don’t go by Dean Winchester anymore. Haven’t in 17 years actually.” Then he put a thoughtful and on the side of his face. “Oh… I almost forgot. Nice to see you again… dad.” He grinned as he leaned forward, getting in John’s face.

  
“It’s been a while.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See? If you ave suggestions feel free to comment below! The storyline is pretty much done, but I'm always open to improvements! I currently have another 2 maybe 3 elements from readers that will be incorporated into this story! So by all means suggest shit.


	29. The Long Awaited Meeting Pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... since I live in Canada this is the last day of summer vacation for me. So school tomorrow... yippee!
> 
> Once again I am thanking [Banner](http://archiveofourown.org/users/FireflyBanner/pseuds/Banner) for a lovely suggestion. They're responsible for the idea of the whole homophobic John. I had completely forgotten about that angle, so a big thank you for reminding me! I was very happy to have yet another way to make John look like an asshole.
> 
> Oh and I'd like to caution those who are sensitive to homophobic slurs. This is along the lines of something that's been said to me so I hope that it's realistic enough.

“About… 17 years since you last saw me… isn’t it?” Jason asked coolly. With all the mood changes you’d think that he was bipolar. Nope… just very theatric. It comes with the job. Shhhhhh!

 

“Well, 7 if you count the time that I called you… but that was just hearing my lovely voice!” He continued. He sneered at John. “Oh, but you never looked for me. You were content to abandon me as a child. Oh but now that you have to save little Sammy… you pull all the stops to find me. You even swallowed your pride to _ask for help_ to find Dean Winchester.” he said smugly.

 

He seemed to enjoy the fact that this was obviously sooo hard for John. He seemed to be taunting him. He looked like he would have continued, but John had had enough. “I didn’t ask for help!” he burst out. Jason’s smirk turned absolutely poisonous at that response. He raised an eyebrow before looking back at Dick.

 

“So the thing you’re concerned about is the fact that we think you asked for help.” Dick said incredulously. “Oh can’t have everyone thinking that John Winchester has a heart and cares enough about his children to, god forbid, ask for help. Nope, you have to maintain your pride.” he said, joining Jason in the verbal fight.

 

“It’s not like that!” John snarled, clenching his fist at his sides, clearly restraining himself from physically attacking Jason. Bobby sipped at his beer, content to watch everything play out. If Jason actually pulled out a weapon that’s when he’d intervene. In his opinion John deserved whatever smack down he’d get.

 

Castiel was watching everything with a confused and calculated look. He didn’t seem to understand what was going on. Well, technically how what he said had started all of this. Wasn’t it a good thing that they no longer had to look for Dean? Sam was just staring in fascination. Here was his brother, standing right in front of him. Alive.

 

He knew that Dan was still out there, but to know that he was still a hunter? That was what hurt. That means he’s heard about the Winchesters. That means that he’s known that Sam was back in the business, and yet he hadn’t even bothered to find him to see if he was ok? What kind of brother was he?

 

“Ah. The classic argument. _‘It wasn’t like that’_ ” Jason repeated, mocking his biological father. “That’s what they all say. Pathetic people trying to defend their actions.” he turned his back on John, walking back towards his partner. “But then again you don’t really care about us. All you cared about was your revenge. Unfortunately that was something I inherited from you. But at least I turned my life around” he continued flippantly.

 

Stretching and wrapping an arm around Dick’s shoulders. It was a bit of a stretch to reach the taller man, and yet he made it look effortless when it was no doubt slightly uncomfortable. That phrase made Sam think though. It was odd. Jaso- Dean seemed to despise John. Why would he willingly admit to sharing a trait with him. And that also brings up the fact that he needed revenge in the first place. This might not have been the smartest idea, but Sam decided to cut in.

 

“Why did you need to get revenge?” he asked. Dean looked at him incredulously. He exchanged a look with Dick yet again. These looks were beginning to annoy him. It’s not like they knew each other well enough to communicate without words right? What hunter in their right mind would get that close to a cop? Even if they were romantically involved. It was odd.

 

“You Winchesters just _love_ to focus on the unimportant facts don’t you?” he asked. At Sam’s pointed look he rolled his eyes and continued. “You need to work on your looks kid. You aren’t threatening at all. I know a teenager that is more threatening than you.” To be fair, that teenager was Tim Drake, the new Robin. But still.

 

“I died. And then I spent a long time being pissed and taking it out on others because my killer was still alive. Sure he was in an insane asylum, but he was still alive. I wasn’t going to settle for that. But then I killed him. And I turned my life around. Started hunting again and I found my family.” He sneered at John, making it very apparent how much he disgusted him.

 

“But you, you didn’t. You dragged your family into your revenge. We were just _kids_ . You didn’t even give us a choice! At least my _family_ did. They let me chose what I wanted to do. They let me choose whether I wanted that life or not. It’s not their fault that it was so drilled into my character to choose that life. Even if that life lead me to my death.” Oh it was on.

 

Jason was full on ranting and it didn’t look like he was going to stop anytime soon. But that thought didn’t seem to occur to John. He just had to cut in at that moment. When things were getting really heated. “Dean-” he tried to begin, but he stopped when Dick got this look on his face.

 

It just screamed ‘oh-he’s-going-to-get-it-now’ and in all honesty, John was asking for it. Not like anyone was going to stop it from happening either.

 

“You pompous ass” Jason grit out. He actually looked shocked. It was almost amusing, and Dick had to suppress his sniggers at the face that he was making. “Are you shitting me right now? You _actually_ have the nerve to call me Dean!” Now he was just making a big show out of this. He was being over dramatic, but then again, what Bat boy isn’t over dramatic?

 

“My name is Jason Todd. Or better known to the NSA, CIA, Homeland Security, FBI, KGB, Mossad and Interpole, as the Red Hood” he said arrogantly, drinking in the looks of shock on Bobby, Sam and John’s faces. (Castiel didn’t react and Dick merely rolled his eyes at the exaggerated way Jason was introducing himself - although it wasn’t like he wouldn’t do the same thing)

 

Bobby was shocked because he just thought that Jason was the Red Hood. He’d known that Jason had gotten involved with the gangs of Gotham. He just didn’t think that he was the one who was calling the shots. Because even a hunter who’s basically off the grid knows about all the shit that the Red Hood’s been involved in.

 

Sam was horrified because the students at Stanford always used to talk about the Red Hood and all the other vigilantes and villains in Gotham. They’d gossip for hours about all the battles that had taken place. One of his close friends - his name had been Justin Adams, and he’d actually introduced him to Jess - had lived in Gotham before going to Stanford.

 

He’d always talked about how he was so glad that he made it out. Because despite the fact that he was one of the middle class Gothamites, he had seen more than enough of the big battles between Batman and his villains. He claimed to have even been saved once by a Robin about 10 years ago. But the one thing he never stopped mentioning was how dangerous the capes of Gotham were.

 

You didn’t get on their bad side if you wanted to stay alive. Well… Batman never killed, but he gets pretty damned close. The main problem nowadays was the Red Hood. He was known to kill, and without a second thought either. If you were a gang banger piece of trash, or someone who got in his way - he never killed any innocents though - then you were dead.

 

He hadn’t been connected to any kills recently, but that didn’t stop people spreading rumours about him. That didn’t stop people being terrified because if you went against him then he would kill you. He did what Batman never could. He got rid of those that weren’t afraid.

 

And that terrified Sam.

 

When he’d first heard that his brother was still alive, he’d been jealous of the possibility and almost certainty that Dean was living a normal life. The normal life that he’d only had the chance to have for a couple of years while he was in college. Then he’d felt bad because they would be dragging him away from the perfect normal life to deal with a bunch of supernatural shit he’d probably thought was behind him.

 

Then he’d found out that none other than Jason Todd, an infamous hunter, was actually Dean Winchester and he’d wanted to flip. He’d had a chance to have  normal life and he actually chose hunting? It just didn’t make any sense to Sam who’d been hunting (pardon the pun) for the chance to be normal all his life.

 

He couldn’t believe that someone would willingly give that up.

 

But then he’d dropped the bomb that he’d _died_. That just… shocked Sam. What had he been doing with his life that had caused him to die? And how had he been brought back? Those were pressing questions that he would have asked had it not been for the pissing match going on between John and his brother.

 

The brother that apparently hated being called Dean Winchester and seemed to think that he was Jason Todd now. Did he make that name up? Or did he steal it from someone else? At this point Sam was pretty willing to believe anything.

 

And if Jason having died was a bomb drop than this was a freaking nuclear revelation. Not only was he an infamous hunter, no he just had to be one of Gotham’s most terrifying too.

 

Go big or go home, right? This was so weird. He was standing in a kitchen with hunters of the supernatural, a police officer, an angel of the motherfucking lord, and a fucking vigilante mob boss that works with the freaking Batman.

 

And speaking of said cop. All he could really think about this situation was ‘what the fuck’? How did a cop even get together with a freaking mob boss? Dick didn’t seem like the type to be a dirty cop, so he shouldn’t have gotten involved with a mob boss. Even if he is a vigilante. Maybe this cop worked with the Batman and met the Red Hood through him.

 

Although it still doesn’t explain why they’re together. Jason doesn’t really seem like he type of person that you’d want to be romantically involved with.

 

Meanwhile John was kind of infuriated. He’d been pissed ever since they’d gotten to Bobby’s. Not only was it incredibly humiliating to have to call in another hunter to deal with their problems, but Bobby called in the only other hunter that was as famous as himself. That was another blow to his pride.

 

He’d somewhat accepted the fact that Jason Todd and his _partner_ would be helping them. But he’d taken comfort in the fact that as soon as they’d found Dean. But then Castiel had revealed the fact that Jason Todd was actually Dean. That was pretty much the last straw.

 

This smug bastard whose skills were probably highly exaggerated (there’s no way that this punk is a mob boss. He’s with a _cop_ ) was none other than his screw up of a son. That’s just a load of bullshit. The entire thing.

 

John’s mind was still trying to comprehend what was happening (and find another way to defend himself, because dammit he wasn’t the bad guy here) when Dick sauntered up and rested _his_ arm on Jason’s shoulders. “No need to brag, sweetheart” he says sweetly as he presses a kiss to the side of Jason’s head.

 

That was it.

 

That was the final straw for John. Not only was his screw up of a son a hunter who was deliberately showing him up in the hunting world, but he was also a fag. He wasn’t about to let this go. “You’re disgusting” he growls. “And I highly doubt that you’re actually this Red Hood person. You look too weak to even be a successful hunter.” He says,, even though he knows that the kid has quite a bit of muscle. It’s kind of obvious.

 

“You bring shame to the name Winchester, you fucking faggot!” he spits out. “You and your fairy boyfriend will only bring us down.” Sam looked upset at John’s latest addition to the argument, but John told himself he’d get over it.

 

Dean was a bad influence, and it was a good thing that he’d left that brat behind all those years ago. Because of his decision Sam didn’t turn out to be a fairy too. Bobby looked even more angry than Sam, and for a moment, John thought that saying what he did might not have been the best thing to say. Bobby could kick them out, but then again. They’d probably be better off without Bobby’s help.

 

They could handle their own problems.

 

“John, you don’t ever learn do you.” Dick purred. “Weak? Us? I knew hunters were pretty out of touch technology wise, but this is really pathetic. You don’t know who the Red Hood is? Even little naive Sammy knows. That’s sad.” He scanned the room, to Sam his gaze felt like he was looking at his very soul. It was unsettling.

 

“And you seem to think that just because I only learned about the supernatural recently that I’m incapable.” The former warm smile that had rested on his face was gone. He stared at them all coolly, and that’s when Bobby felt it was time to intervene.

 

“No offense, but stuff you’ve handled as a cop isn’t anything compared to the supernatural. You were lucky that you had Jason when you ran into the vampires.” he said. This earned him a glare from the cop.

 

Dick scoffed “Honestly, hunters can be so thick.” He rolled his eyes and exchanged a look of exasperation with Jason. “We’ve established that Jason is the Red Hood. Do you really think that he’d work with someone who was less capable than he is? And that raises the question of who I could possibly be” he continues while smirking, leaning on Jason’s shoulder and crossing one of his legs over the other.

 

“Honestly we live in Gotham. The supernatural is like fighting street thugs compared to some of the people - humans, by the way - that we’ve had to deal with. I can say this because I’ve been a hunter for years. Humans can be a whole lot more dangerous than the supernatural. It’s like fighting demons, but without being able to exorcise them. Truly very fun.” Jason said offhandedly.

 

Sam’s jaws dropped. These two were talking like they’d fought a war. Like they were still fighting a war. It was ridiculous. There’s no way that they had to fight humans that were more dangerous than demons. At the end of the day, humans were weaker. That was just common sense. These guys were nuts. And Sam didn’t know whether that was a good thing for them or not.

 

“But, we really don’t care about what you think. You see, we’re perfectly capable of looking after ourselves. Angels won’t harm us and there’s no way in hell I’m saying yes to being some entitled bastard’s meatsuit, so there’s no problems there! So we don’t really need you. We can walk out of here at anytime and we’d be perfectly fine. But _you_ need us, because you clearly have no plans.” Jason leaned forward, predatory grin on his face.

 

“So what’s it gonna be, gentleman?” he asked, a truly poisonous grin on his face. If Sam didn’t know any better (but does he really know any better at this point?) he’d think that Jason was actually severely enjoying the fact that they were struggling this much. The fact that they would be lost without them.

 

There was a moment of silence, before Castiel opened his mouth and proceeded to shove his foot into it. (No not literally) “You can’t leave. You may think that you are able to protect yourselves but what about your… ‘family’? Can they? Angels can be far more frightening than you think.” he warned them. To be fair that was a serious warning, and if it had been delivered to Sam, then he definitely would have thought twice.

 

Apparently it sounded ridiculous to Jason because both him and Dick proceeded to burst out into almost hysterical laughter. Both Sam and Bobby stared at them bug eyed. This was about the exact opposite of what they were expecting. Jason was the first to calm down, and he responded while Dick continued to snicker.

 

“Oh the number of times I’ve heard _that_.” He gasped. “I generally have several madness-inducing hallucinations before breakfast. And nothing in the real world can be as frightening as what we can imagine… right?” he growled. This shocked everyone once again. It seems that that’s all that’s been happening lately.

 

But Jason had revealed yet another piece of information about himself. “We… do need your help. And you may need our help more than you think.” Sam said finally. Jason scoffed yet again, making it very clear how much he believed the second half of Sam’s statement.

 

“Well, if we’re going to be staying, then there’s going to be a lot less homophobic comments. I’m talking to you _Winchester_ .” he said, “and you’re going to follow our suggestions. WE say something, trust it. We’re more experienced than you think.” John looked like he was going to protest, getting this disgusted look on his face. But he was quickly silenced by a pointed look from Bobby, Sam, _and_ Castiel.

 

(God, Castiel argues, is completely indifferent to people’s sexual orientation.)

 

Jason grinned, their response to his condition was obvious. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading this and all the lovely comments. It's really uplifting and I just want to remind everyone that I am very welcoming of ideas. If you feel like something should be added to the story feel free to tell me. It's most likely going to work out in your favour, but sometimes the ideas can be just a little too different from what I've written out for the plot line. But that hasn't happened yet.
> 
> I still have one more suggestion to write from Banner, and another from someone else. I feel like they've really improved this story so I'd just like to say thank you yet again.


	30. A Half-Assed Planning Attempt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's been a while and I feel like I should update. But school is back and my writing has returned to the shit it originally was (there was a small moment of improvement) but this chapter is sort of a filler? 
> 
> I mean I have everything else planned out, so I'm not going to abandon this ever. There won't be hiatus either cuz I hate leaving things unfinished. I'd just like to apologize now. I haven't watched Supernatural in 2 years, so i really don't remember all that much. This is an AU and this is my AU until others take initiative and make more stories like this... so I get to fuck around with this universe.
> 
> Just be patient with me while I write the ending chapters. There should be around 3 more.

And so they began to plan. Jason got them - meaning Sam - to give him a rundown on what’s happened so far. Apparently not all that much. They’d basically just been spending all of their time and effort on either trying to ditch Castiel, or to find him.

 

Although along the way they’d managed to convince Castiel that free will was important and that it wouldn’t be a good idea to have two archangels fighting using the earth as their battle ground. The human death toll would be enormous.

 

Jason rolled his eyes after he heard about what Castiel was like in the beginning. Of course the angel of the lord had a giant stick up his ass. Jason grumbled under his breath about how they were just ‘dick’s with wings’ and Sam had to suppress a laugh while Castiel glared at them.

 

Bobby and Dick had no such reservations and laughed loudly at Jason’s comment. After the laughter had dwindled down to a stop, Jason got right back to the point, demanding to know what they’d planned on doing when they’d finally found him.

 

A blushing Sam told them that they hadn’t thought that far yet. Jason couldn’t help but facepalm. These people were worse than he was when he had originally been planning on trying to get Batman to kill the Joker. And that was a really dumb idea.

 

How had the Winchesters survived so long? It was ridiculous. Especially with how thick headed John was. Every time he was forced to address Jason he’d refer to him as Dean. No matter how many times he was corrected by Jason, Dick _and_ Bobby, he didn’t seem to care. You’d think he’d want to disassociate Jason from the Winchesters, but he seemed determined to get Jason to accept the name Dean.

 

That wasn’t going to happen anytime soon and anyone who thought otherwise was an idiot.

 

But that still left them a problem. They had no plan for the apocalypse, and their knowledge on said apocalypse was limited to what Castiel knew. And since he was technically a foot soldier, he didn’t know much. They had absolutely no idea what Lucifer and his demon buddies were planning, and they didn’t even know what all of the seals were.

 

How were they supposed to plan to prevent seals from being broken if they didn’t even know what the seals were? Hunters were stupid.

 

And if that didn’t put a cherry on the cake, then the fact that they had absolutely no idea on how to get that information certainly did. It was like they’d never had to gather intel before. You’d think that they would have a semi decent grasp on how to gather information considering what their hunts required, but these idiots had no idea how to go about questioning people.

 

That became apparent when Dick inquired about how they usually solved their cases. They weren’t subtle nor were they good at prying information from the more reluctant witnesses. In this case, reluctant witnesses would be demons.

 

And that revelation of the obvious seemed to both horrify and shock the hunters. Even Bobby reacted badly to finding out that Jason and Dick planned to get information from a demon. Jason merely raised an eyebrow at them, effectively cutting off any protests.

 

“Well do you have any better ideas?” and that question is what brought everything to a standstill. John still seemed to believe that he was better than them and that they didn’t need any help so he wasn’t being any help during the decision making. Instead he was sulking in the corner, nursing a beer.

 

Dick seemed content to follow Jason’s decisions, but Sam and Bobby were on the fence. Surely there was a better way to get information on this matter. “How about this. We each get a week to gather information our own ways. Castiel you can see if you can find anything out on the angel end of things. Sam, Bobby, try calling other hunters and your own contacts. Maybe Garth has something. Jason and I will handle stuff dealing with demons.” Dick proposed, speaking up for the first time.

 

Both Bobby and Sam were very reluctant to go through with this, because Dick was a newbie. He could easily get hurt, but a warning look from Jason quickly sent them searching for other reasons to leave interrogating demons to their last resort. But they couldn’t find anything.

 

The way that Dick proposed would most likely be the one that would get them the best results. With everyone covering their own field of contacts and knowledge, they’d have a better chance on getting some information. And at this point, any information was useful.

 

So the hunters grudgingly agreed to the arrangement, even if they didn’t think it was a good idea. They were about to continue talking about  plan of action when there was the sound of a cell phone ringing. Dick looked confused for a second, before he reached into a pouch attached to his belt and pulled out a rather high tech but durable appearing phone.

 

He checked the caller ID before sending a look at Jason. “It’s B” he said simply before turning and walking out of the kitchen, calling back that he’d be out by the bike, that the call was important. Jason rolled his eyes but he didn’t kick up a fuss about Dick leaving to answer a phone call during this important meeting.

 

When asked, he would simply say that that was one of their contacts that would probably be able to help them get some info. When they continued to press him, he simply told them that they didn’t want or need to know who this mysterious ‘B’ was.

 

And that seemed to be the cue to stop the serious conversations for the night. “So I hope you don’t mind if Dick and I take over your living room” Jason said while getting himself a beer. Bobby shook his head lightly before responding.

 

“Don’t be an idjit. You are welcome to stay here. It makes it easier to gather everyone anyway.” Jason sent him what he probably thought was a smile. To everyone else in the room it looked like a mischievous smirk that promised only trouble. He hide the smirk by taking a drink from his beer.

 

After a single sip he made a face and looked at the label. “Ughh, this is nasty. Alfred’s been spoiling me.” he grumbled under his breath. The only reason that Sam heard him at all was because he was sitting right next to him.

 

They settled into a friendly conversation that quickly turned into boasting about hunts. This was when John returned to the table. If there was something that all hunters could agree on it was the fact that they’d never pass up an opportunity to boast about their accomplishments.

 

John was probably feeling pretty frustrated with the fact that his wayward son was a hunter that seemed to be as capable as the Winchesters and he was determined to prove that he was better than his son. Dick returned about 2 minutes into the conversation shooting a quick text to someone before taking a seat beside Jason and listening to all the war stories.

 

He seemed genuinely interested, even if he didn’t contribute until John started talking to him. “So how many hunts have you been on? We don’t need a newbie costing us the world.” he said gruffly, a somewhat mocking tone to his voice. It was almost unnoticeable and if judging from the proud look that Sam was shooting his father, he clearly didn’t catch the challenging tone in his voice.

 

Dick and Jason had been trained to identify this. It did not slip past their notice. Dick smiled widely and responded in a charming tone with absolute confidence, “I’ve only been on one hunt. And you can’t exactly call it a hunt because I sort of just stumbled upon Jason here taking out a nest of vampires.”

 

“You see I’m a policeman so I was put on this serial case. I thought it looked odd so I took it to Jason and he immediately told me to leave it alone; that he’d handle it. I, of course, was not just going to back off so I followed him. Seeing as he was going to kill them I had to jump in. I wasn’t just going to let Jason go on a killing spree again. This time it was innocents, or so I thought.”

 

The last part of the statement confused everyone. They had no idea why Dick said ‘again’ after the whole killing spree thing. It didn’t exactly make John feel any better about who was helping them. Not the mention the fact that Sam was already uneasy. Sure De- Jason was his biological brother, but he hadn’t seen him since he was 5. That was a long time, and people change.

 

He was a bit calmed by the whole implication that this so called ‘killing spree’ hadn’t involved innocents.

 

But then Dick continued with his story, seemingly oblivious to the effect that his last statement had on his audience. “So I of course began to fight off the people while screaming at Jason. I knocked about two of them out while Jason killed all the others. I was chewing him out, and then the ones I knocked out came and attacked me. Jason killed them and then he sat me down and explained everything.”

 

“I’m still not so keen on the whole killing thing - back home we have a rule against that sort of thing - but I understand why it’s necessary here. I suppose it is the kinder thing to do for possessed humans. It does sort of explain some things about Jason though” he finished thoughtfully.

 

He sent them all a lazy grin before calmly redirecting the flow of the conversation back towards the hunters and their own experiences. Sam was kind of impressed at how easily he manipulated them into not asking anything about Gotham or their lives. He was good.

 

If Sam hadn’t been paying such close attention to the mysterious police officer his ‘brother’ was dating, then he never would have caught it. He shot a look out of the corner of his eye at John, and he was somewhat glad(?) to see that John still looked suspicious of the both of them.

 

Bobby, on the other hand, had not caught that Dick was manipulating the conversation and was all too happy to share some of his own hunting stories, as well as some of the hunts that he’d seen Jason do.

 

And that’s how everyone found out that Jason was responsible for mentoring Garth.

 

Dick full out gaped at Jason at that revelation. “And you still refuse to train with Tim?” he asked incredulously. Jason’s cheeks were lightly dusted with pink when he grumbled under his breath that it wasn’t the same.

 

Sam laughed softly at their exchange. He had to admit that they were well suited for each other, even if Dick seemed a little too happy go lucky to truly understand Jason’s whole brood thing. That’s right, even after only knowing him for a few hours it was pretty obvious that Jason was the brooding type.

 

Sam can’t remember if Jason was like that when he had still been with the Winchesters.

 

But then the conversation turned towards scars. Bobby and John were all too proud to show off the physical evidence that nothing had been able to kill them yet. Sam had been a little shy at first, but a couple of minutes into the contest he was removing his shirt and showing off right alongside his father.

 

Dick got a worried look on his face when the whole scar competition started and Jason’s eyes tightened slightly, but neither of them said anything. Well, that is until John turned his attention back to Jason once more. He was _not_ willing to give up in his attempt at humiliating the son he abandoned.

 

“Dean, Grayson… we’ve shown you our scars, do you have any battle wounds you’d like to show us?” he asked in a mocking tone, and if the situation were anything but this one, Dick might have made a remark about how that sounded rather gay. But John had just asked them to show him their scars.

 

Jason leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his heads in an uncaring manner. “Nah. I think I’d rather not” he said simply. This seemed to piss John off. He wasn’t getting his way, so he was going to continue to push until he did.

 

Winchester stubbornness (read: bullheadedness) everyone!

 

“Oh yeah?” he said in a challenging tone, standing up and leaning over the table to get into the two newcomer’s faces. “I bet you’re just too pussy to. You probably don’t have anything better than we do and you just want me to back off so you don’t get humiliated.”

 

A shadow fell over Jason’s face, and Dick’s worried expression intensified. Jason stood up abruptly, hitting the table and shoving his chair backwards. “You just won’t stop pushing will you?” he demanded harshly, breathing angrily through his nose. John sneered at his estranged son and jutted out his chin, clearly telling everyone that he would not back down.

 

Seething slightly, Jason grunted. “Fine. If seeing my scars is what you want, then I’ll show you!” he snarled. If Sam didn’t know better he would have thought that Jason’s eyes glinted a pale lime green. But that was silly. Humans eyes weren’t lime green, it must have been a simple trick of the light.

 

Then, despite Dick’s disapproving look, Jason proceeded to pull the Kevlar top over his head, revealing his bare top. Sam could only stare in shock at what was revealed to them in that moment.

 

If Sam thought that they were scarred pretty badly, then they were nothing compared to Jason’s torso. Every inch of skin was marred in some way, shape or form. Whether it be healing lacerations and bruises or old scars. You name it, it was littered all over his torso.

 

The older scars told stories of stab wounds and long slashes, as well as small nicks and bullet wounds. Some seemed to have been sewn together and properly looked after, while others were incredibly ragged and noticeable.

 

But that wasn’t even getting into the burn marks. There were so many of them, and they were tiny and everywhere. It reminded Sam of the bomb victim wounds he’d seen on one of his friend’s school projects.

 

But the scar that was the most horrifying out of all of them, was a single Y shaped scar stretching from his shoulders to his sternum. It was an autopsy scar. Sam had seen many f them during his hunting gigs, but they’d always been on the deceased. He’d never heard of them being performed on someone who lived to tell the tale.

 

He could only stare in horror at the prominent scar that covered Jason’s chest area. At Bobby’s sharp intake of breath, he’d obviously had no idea that Jason had had these scars. The sad look Dick was sending Jason though, showed that he already knew. Suddenly his worried expressions made sense.

 

Sam found that despite the fact that he’d been incredibly curious about what type of life Jason had lead in Gotham, he no longer wanted to know. He didn’t want to know why Jason had the scars of a bomb victim, or an autopsy scar.

 

Jason sneered at him before tugging his top back on and grabbing his bag. “If that’s all, then I think I’ll retire for the night.” Then he stormed out of the room, Dick not far behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are always appreciated.
> 
> Also just because this story will end doesn't mean I'm done with this AU. If you guys have any ideas for oneshots you might like from this universe, then feel free to suggest them. I'll make this into a series and add the requested oneshots.


	31. A Plan of Action... Sort of

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I lied. There will be more than 3 chapters until the end. This chapter was originally supposed to be twice its length, but I got lazy? So more chapters for all of you! ha ha.... ha... ha  
> *internally sobbing*

They didn’t speak about what happened the next morning.

 

In fact, they tried to avoid mentioning or thinking about it at all. It was like it never happened… and yet… Sam couldn’t ever see Jason in the same way. As it was, he’d looked at Jason and Dick through tinted lenses. He’d seen Jason as the brother that he’d always wanted.

 

But Jason seemed to want nothing to do with him. He’d never gone out of his way to talk to Sam. Heck, they’d barely shared a conversation! And then John had to go and ruin things all over again. First there was the whole homophobic rant thing - honestly Sam wasn’t quite ready to think all that much about it quite yet - and now there was the scars.

 

Honestly, at first Sam hadn’t thought there would be anything all that horrible. They all had scars right? But it had been so much more horrible than he could have ever imagined. All the scars… he could never look at him the same way.

 

But he tried to. It would make things so much more tense if he openly treated Jason differently, so he tried to act like it never happened. But he wasn’t all that successful. He thought he was being stealthy when he shot glances at the two mysterious hunters. But if the dirty looks that Jason was sending him meant anything, then he was doing a really bad job.

 

But life had to continue, and after a couple of awkward hours in the morning where they were all looking through Bobby’s book collection silently. Even Castiel was helping, although he only entered the room after John left to make a food run.

 

Believe it or not, the room had actually been even more tense before John left. That didn’t mean that the room wasn’t tense _now_ either. It was still horribly awkward and the silence was almost deafening. Castiel was awkwardly sitting on the couch and staring into space.

 

He _could_ be helping them research ways to stop the apocalypse. He _could_ be telling them all about the seals that he did know. He could even be trying to eavesdrop on the angel radio. But nope. Castiel was staring off into space.

 

Well not really into space. It was more like he was staring directly at Jason. More specifically, at the freckles dusting his nose lightly. It looked like he was trying to… count them? Every time Jason moved or even twitched  Castiel would shift and then his eyes would flick back towards the top of his nose.

 

Sam was about to speak up when Jaso spoke instead. “Anything you want to share with the class, Cas?” he drawled, not even bothering to look up from the book on demons he was reading. Castiel’s eyes flickered from Jason’s nose up to his hair.

 

“There is no class. I do not understand… Why do you dye your hair, Dean?” he asks instead. _This_ got Jason to look up. He promptly shut his book, not even bothering to save what page he was reading. He passed the book to Dick who calmly opened it to a completely different part of the book and began to read it. After that little exchange, Jason leaned forward and answered Castiel.

 

“First of all” he began in a slightly sarcastic tone, “my name’s not Dean. I thought we went over this yesterday, but my name is _Jason._ All of you need to accept that. And second of all, I dye my hair because of personal reasons that don’t concern you.” he said snarkily.

 

Castiel looked confused for a moment, and his eyebrows furrowed. “It is silly how humans choose to alter their appearance. Wouldn’t it be simpler to just leave your appearance as it is? Red hair would suit you.” he said thoughtfully.

 

Jason rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Cas.” he replied. He pulled out another book from the book shelf and opened it to the middle and began to scan its pages. Sam stifled a chuckle and tried to refocus on his book.

 

“Why do you call me that? _Cas_?” Castiel asked. Jason looked confused, Sam felt just as confused as Jason probably felt, Dick was still engrossed in his book, and Bobby was sipping a beer and watching them like they were his favourite sit com.

 

“It’s a nickname. Friends give each other nicknames. For example, Dick calls me Little Wing, and I call him Dickiebird. Sammy is Sammy, and John is Dickhead, not to be confused with Dickiebird.” he said casually.

 

This time Sam lost the battle with holding in his laughter and he let out a small chuckle. Even if he absolutely hated to be called Sammy because it makes him seem younger and less mature, it was still hilarious that Jason had dubbed John ‘Dickhead’, and then made a point to make sure that it didn’t get confused with his partner.

 

Dick sent him a halfhearted glare and swatted the back of his head.

 

Castiel still looked confused, but he remained quiet. Silence fell over the room for a few more minutes before Jason interrupted the silence yet again. He did so by loudly tossing his book on the table and letting out a long drawn out groan as he stretched and stood up.

 

“Well I think I’ve learned enough for today! I think I’m done with reading until the next time B has me take somebody out. It’s time for some good old fashioned detective work. What do you say Dick? Feel like joining me?” he asked as he began to gather his weapons from where they’d been miscellaneously placed around the room.

 

One was always within an arm’s reach of just about anywhere in the room.

 

Dick shook his head before picking up the book that Jason had discarded. “You always were one for field work. I think I’ll stay here and learn more about the supernatural world. You’re going to be taking me hunting when this is over so I might as well learn now when we have down time. I’ll help you when you come back.” he replied as he dug his nose into the new book. There was a rather impressive pile of finished books beside him, and Sam was kind of impressed.

 

He was known as the family’s bookworm, and even _he_ didn’t read that much.

 

And while field work wasn’t always the greatest, Sam had learned to appreciate the times breaks in between hardcore research. There was only so many Latin texts that one could take in at one time.

 

There was also the fact that Sam had a pretty good idea about what he was going to be doing when he went out to do ‘field work’. It was nothing good, and Sam was actually kind of glad that Dick would be staying. It would be a chance to find out more about them.

 

“Sure you aren’t Dick. I’ll be back later today, hopefully with a lead.” Jason told Dick, although he directed the second sentence at all of them. He grabbed his leather jacket from the arm of the chair he was sitting on and then left the house, all the while whistling a jaunty tune.

 

After that there was a couple minutes of semi comfortable silence. After a couple more minutes, someone decided to speak up. Surprisingly it wasn’t even Sam. It was Bobby.

 

“So… Dick. You’re a police officer, right? How’d you get into that type of job?” he asked casually. Well it might have seemed casual, but at this point the silence had been too long and it was a very awkward conversation starter.

 

Dick looked up from his book, although he didn’t close it yet. “Well my parents were killed during one of their performances. My family traveled with a circus and we were famous acrobats that traveled around Europe. But someone staged an accident, and they fell. Someone in the audience adopted me, and I grew up in Gotham.”

 

“Seeing all the horrors of Gotham and the fact that my parents murderer was never found, I wanted to make sure that others could find justice. So I packed up and moved to Bludhaven and got into the police department. Been working there ever since.” he said.

 

“How’d you meet my brother?” Sam asked. Apparently that was the wrong question to ask, because Dick proceeded to close his book angrily and glare at him. Normally he could brush off a simple glare, it was nothing compared to facing down an angry ghost.

 

But this was different. This glare just promised pain, it was almost ridiculous how the happy go lucky puppy of a man they first met could look so scary. Sam shivered. “He’s _not_ your brother” he nearly growled. This was such a complete 180 from when he first came in.

 

“Don’t you dare pretend that he is. You know _nothing_ , and you’ll never know him. We’re doing this and then that’s _it_. He already has a family and a little brother. We have our own problems to deal with and we don’t need your family issues added on top of it! And don’t go all high and mighty on me. You think you’re war is bad? Well where I come from that’s everyday of every year.”

 

“We’re always fighting, and we’re never going to be able to stop because that’s just how life is for us. You think that you fight a war everyday? You go looking for it! Don’t even bother trying to deny it, I could understand staying in one place and fighting all the evil that happens there. But you travel and hunt for it! That’s absurd. We have no choice. Gotham is _ours_. It’s our responsibility. This isn’t.”

 

“And don’t think you can help in some vain attempt at reconciling with him. But honey, you can’t fight humans.” he snarled. Sam was taken aback by Dick’s sudden rant. He’d seemed like such a happy go lucky guy, it was odd to see him so… angry.

 

It didn’t suit him.

 

Dick seemed to realize how he’d basically attacked Sam and he had the decency to blush. “I’m sorry that was uncalled for. It feels like just yesterday that we got him back. I remember what it was like to lose him, and I don’t want that to ever happen again. Jason has a thing about family. It’s family over all else to him.” he said softly, the anger in his tone gone.

 

There was a moment of silence where nobody spoke, and everyone was uncomfortable.

 

“And you suppose that your crappy cop training is going to be enough to protect you when you have to go up against demons? No offense, but we can’t exactly afford to baby sit you when the confrontation - and there will be at least one - happens.” Bobby said gruffly.

 

None of them really knew how to respond to Dick’s rant, so of course this awkward change of the topic happened. To be fair, it was kind of important. Really, what type of cop training could give you the reflexes needed to be a hunter. And while Dick did appear to be one of those fit cops that don’t slack, there still wasn’t all that much action no matter how bad Bludhaven would be.

 

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that. I assure you, I’m no ordinary cop. I’m the one who helped train Jason after all.” Of course he was. That was obviously true, there was no way that could possibly be false.

 

Sam was betting that Dick had no idea what he was talking about. There’s no way that humans could ever prepare you for demons and the supernatural. Let alone angels. It was a whole other world that no one should have to face, but because life isn’t fair, some people do.

 

Dick doesn’t seem to be the type to be able to comfortably walk the path of a hunter. Even in the few hours that he’s seen of Jason, he knew that he was more than capable of doing what needs to be done. Dick, despite his dark moments, was simply to bright.

 

Like Jess.

 

They remained silent for the rest of the afternoon.

 

* * *

 

They were still reading in the library 6 hours later (Sam had been considering getting up to make some dinner - John still hadn’t returned, he didn’t know if he was ever going to return) when Jason came crashing through the door.

 

Bobby nearly fell out of his chair in surprise at the sudden intrusion. Sam fought the instinct to do exactly that, and Castiel and Dick remained completely unaffected, although Dick did tense up slightly as if he was expecting an attack.

 

Sam’s eyes widened as he saw what Jason was dragged into the house. Jason was holding a man in chains by the arm. He was covered in blood and what looked like… salt? The man looked to be in horrible shape, with the chains digging into burned flesh. The man was snarling and fighting Jason as much as he could.

 

At first Sam was alarmed at the reason that Jason was viciously dragging this injured man.

 

But then he saw the eyes.

 

They were black as night without colour at all. And they were angry and scared all at the same time. It was a demon, that’s for sure. When Jason said ‘field work’ Sam had thought that he didn’t actually mean he was going to bring a demon back to Bobby’s.

 

“I’m going to use your panic room Bobby! I’ll be out in a few hours!” he called over his shoulder. But then he stopped for a second in the hallway and turned to look at them, all the while strong arming the demon into a somewhat submissive state.

 

“Anyone have anything that can hurt a demon other than salt?” he asked them casually. Sam’s jaw fell open. Was he serious? Everyone else seemed just as shocked as he was, so they didn’t respond. Well Dick looked condescendingly at him for a moment before turning back to his book like Jason _hadn’t_ just dragged in a _demon_.

 

Castiel simply responded by holding up his angel blade. Jason rolled his eyes in exasperation before making a gesture for Castiel to hand the weapon over. He look a little hesitant, but after another imploring look from Jason he tossed it over.

  
Jason grabbed it out of the air and saluted them all. He turned and continued to drag the demon down the hall, calling cheerfully back at them. “A couple hours tops. I’ll have us a lead by then!” he promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALL OF YOUR COMMENTS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED! I LOVE YOU ALL!


	32. Finally We're Getting Somewhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's 1:40 A.M and I am finishing fanfiction. I'm crying why am I awake. Blame all mistakes on the fact that I wrote this in the middle of the night.

It had been hours since Jason first arrived at the house with a demon in tow.

 

They hadn’t seen him since then, he hadn’t even taken a break. Only a couple minutes after Jason had disappeared into the back room the screams had started. They were almost constant and they hadn’t stopped since they started. Dick didn’t seem all too bothered by the sounds that were coming from the _sound proof panic room_.

 

But everyone else was severely on edge. Even Castiel looked uncomfortable when the screams became particularly shrill. Sam shifted in his seat uncomfortably. Each time the screams stopped the time between them got shorter and shorter. Judging by the pain in these screams Sam _really_ didn’t want to know just what Jason was doing down there.

 

It had been an hour already and Jason still hadn’t returned. But the thing that was probably the most worrying was the fact that Dick was just casually reading yet another of Bobby’s books. He didn’t look worried or bothered at all. And that scared Sam.

 

How was it that he could just sit here calmly and ignore what Jason was doing? Was it that normal of a thing that he was used to it? That it no longer bothered him? The sounds coming from the panic room made Sam sick to his stomach and yet Dick was completely unaffected.

 

“How can you just sit here?” Sam blurted out. He simply couldn’t take it anymore, he had to say _something_. There wasn’t exactly anything that they could do. Jason had barricaded himself in the panic room, so it wasn’t like they could stop him from doing… what he was.

 

Dick paused in the middle of flipping a page. He looked up and directly into Sam’s eyes as he answered the question. “This is nothing, Sam. My father is capable of and has done, much worse. It’s normal in Gotham.” he replies flippantly.

 

This sentence said in passing alarmed Sam. He knows that hunters rarely ever go to Gotham just because it seemed to be a supernatural dead zone, but it sounded worse than any supernatural creature he’d ever seen.

 

It made him wonder about how Jason grew up if torture was a daily occurrence. Had he ever been adopted, or did he live on the street? Living on the streets in a normal city was bad, Gotham sounded so much worse. This worried Sam greatly, because it seemed pretty clear that Jason was planning on returning after the apocalypse.

 

Well at least Dick was returning, and that meant that Jason would be returning. Sam frowned as he thought more in depth about this. He would have questioned Dick, but he decided against it. Dick was in a pretty hostile mood at the moment. It probably had to do with how judgmental he was being.

 

But torture was wrong, it didn't matter if it was on a demon or not.

 

Then there was the sound of footsteps and everyone turned to look at the entrance to the den. Jason stalked into the room and stood in front of Dick, although his back was still angled towards the door so no one was behind him.

 

He was wiping his hands with a wet white cloth, although it wasn’t all that white anymore. Despite the way that he was scrubbing at his hands they were still covered in what was most likely blood. There was also some splattered on the white undershirt that he was wearing.

 

He sighed heavily before sending Dick a look. “Do you want to give it a go? I haven’t been able to get much. You were always better at the whole interrogation thing. My methods don’t usually keep them alive long enough to give me the information I need.” He said.

 

Sam’s eyes bugged out of his head at the casual way that he was talking about torturing the demon that he brought into Bobby’s panic room. Sure Dick had said that it was normal and he had even seen Jason drag an obviously injured demon through the halls, but it was still hard for him to wrap his mind around.

 

He was sure that Dick wouldn’t agree. Sure both Jason and his father participated in this somewhat barbaric practice (god he felt pretentious saying that), but surely Dick wouldn’t sink to that level himself.

 

“Sure why not” Dick said instead. He stood up and began to rifle through the pockets in the utility belt that he was still wearing for some unknown reason. After a couple awkward seconds, Dick seemed to find what he was looking for.

 

He pulled out a pair of blue latex gloves and proceeded to pull them on with a snap. He gave a nod to everyone in the room and set a hand on Jason’s shoulder. He gave him a warm look before strolling out of the room and whistling a jaunty tune.

 

Jason then proceeded to collapse onto the spot that Dick just vacated, all the while scrubbing furiously at his hands.

 

So apparently Sam was wrong. It seems that Dick was going to indeed help Jason with his ‘information gathering’. Sam could only stare wide eyed at all of the blood on Jason’s hands and the formerly white cloth.

 

He'd seen blood before. He'd gotten his own fair share of wounds during his time being a hunter, but this was a little terrifying, even for them. If this was normal in Gotham, then Sam never wanted to visit. He would only ever go there as a last resort.

 

Eventually Dick’s whistles faded away as he entered the panic room. Then there was silence. And no one moved for the longest time.

 

There was only quiet, and for a moment Sam believed that Dick was just going to talk to the demon and interrogate him verbally. Maybe scare him a little.

  
  
  


But then the screams started.

 

And they were so much worse than any of the screams that Jason had wrenched from the demon.

 

Sam’s head shot up, looking in the direction that the screams came from. Jason merely rolled his eyes and grumbled under his breath about how it wasn't fair that mr. goody two shoes was so talented at everything.

 

Sam paled at that implication.

 

Seeing as the screaming hadn't decreased - if anything it had actually increased - and it had been a couple minutes, Sam decided to start a conversation in hopes of distracting himself from thinking about what Dick was doing in the panic room.

 

“So… why do you have an autopsy scar?” Sam asked. He mentally winced at that inappropriate question. He'd already seen the negative effect of the mention of these scars when Jason was joking with them.

 

Asking him the backstory of an autopsy scar probably wasn't the greatest idea. Bobby sent him an incredulous look and Sam mentally prepared himself for the fallout. Jason would be no doubt very pissed.

 

Jason stared at him for a moment, looking at him oddly. He seemed to be considering how to answer. “It's a long story” he said casually as he threw the cloth to the side.

 

“We have a lot of time” Bobby responded in an equally casual tone. Sam shot him a look carefully. He knew that Bobby had been just as curious despite how well he hid it.

 

Jason sent him an appraising look before leaning back into the chair and getting comfortable. “Well then. I suppose I should start with the fact that I was a street rat when I lived in Gotham.”

 

Technically he wasn't lying. He was first and foremost a street kid. And a street kid from Gotham’s own Crime Alley. That never left him no matter how many charity functions Bruce had forced him to attend.

 

“And we have humans that are a thousand times scarier than any supernatural creature I’ve ever come across. Things in Gotham are far from pretty, Sammy. It's something that you will never be able to understand. All citizens of Gotham have lived the hard life of a hunter in spirit.”

 

“So it really wasn't all that surprising that I died young.” The blunt way he said that caused Sam to do a double take. “The only thing that was odd was the circumstances under which I died.”

 

Jason was about to continue when the door slammed open and John stormed into the house back from who knows where. He took one look at the bloody cloth and the serious conversation that even Castiel was paying rapt attention to, and headed towards the kitchen completely ignoring them all.

 

Jason rolled his eyes at how immature John was being. But he did continue the story. “You see I got mixed up in some business with the Joker and Batman. Needless to say it didn't end all that well for me.”

 

He was about to continue when he got interrupted yet again. But this time by Sam. “Wait… I thought that Batman was just a myth.” Jason deadpanned.

 

“Nah. He's real all right.” He said. Then he continued one in a theatrical story voice. “I was getting beat to death by the Joker using a crowbar and Batman was supposed to come save me. Only the Joker finished with his work and blew me up before Batman could find me. Seeing as I died and Batman felt guilty, he arranged my funeral.” He finished.

 

Sam was shocked. That was a lot more than he imagined. Somehow he thought that it was just some sort of torture method considering Jason _was_ a mob boss of some sort and he was also a hunter. Him being caught by a demon wasn't all that far fetched.

 

He never imagined that Jason had actually been _murdered_.

 

That was a surprise.

 

And in such a violent way too. It was rather impressive actually. Even if Sam had no idea who the ‘Joker’ was, although with the way that Jason talked about him he had to be someone pretty bad.

 

Sam sat thinking about everything for a moment. “Then why do you want to go back? I mean if it has so many horrible memories and everything. One would think you’d stay as far away as possible.”

 

“Like you haven’t been back to Stanford, Sammy?” Jason replied. Sam winced and Jason’s eyes softened slightly. “Sorry that was uncalled for.” he admitted. “I don’t really know exactly why I stay with Gotham, or even why I went back. I’m just glad I did. I’ve done a lot of good, and I’ve reconnected with those I lost. My family makes it worth it. I even had a little brother named Tim. He’s the genius of the family, takes after our adoptive father.” Jason said, a touch of fondness entering his eyes.

 

That phrase stirred up some feelings of resentment for Jason that he thought he’d buried when he found out that John had abandoned Jason and not the other way around. Reconnecting with those he lost? Well he certainly did a lot of reconnecting with his _real_ family. He talked to Bobby, and if John’s word was anything to go by, he’d even contacted him. So why had Sam heard nothing from his own _brother_?

 

“So you did a lot of _reconnecting_ with family. Why didn’t you try to find me? Why didn’t you ever try to come back?” Sam demanded harshly. He couldn’t contain himself anymore. He needed to know why Jason hadn’t come to visit him, even when he apparently had the resources to find him. If his gear was anything to go by, then he certainly had more than enough funds to even pay for someone to track him down.

 

It wasn’t like he’d been all that difficult to track. He’d used his real name and everything. It also wasn’t like he’d been hiding. If Jason had been abandoned behind at age 9 he’d most likely have still remembered his old life, so why? Jason had made it pretty clear that he still remembered them if his hostile treatment of John was anything to go by then he couldn’t eve use the excuse that he didn’t remember after his death.

 

Jason sighed and scrubbed a and down his face. “I wasn’t actually all that keen on coming back when I was 14, Sammy. By the time I’d come back all I was focused on was making my murderer pay. I found out that my dad had adopted a new kid. I felt replaced, so I was angry at everyone. My goal was to prove that I was better.” he explained.

 

“Didn’t end all that well. Turns out my murderer had escaped the asylum and kidnapped my replacement. He was planning on killing that kid the same way that he did with me. I couldn’t let that slide, and I got to Tim first. I killed that son of a bitch and got Tim back safely. After that Dick tracked me down and practically dragged me back into the fold.”

 

He leaned forward and looked Sam in the eye. “In the years where I was finding my place in the world and getting used to being… one of them again, I did end up tracking you down. I just couldn’t… take you away from the life you’d built for yourself. I couldn’t wreck the normal you had.” He shrugged and placed his head in his hand.

 

“Then the thing with Jess happened, and I was still in a bad place so I wouldn’t have been any help. I only would have made it worse, adding my problems to your own. Your revenge vendetta and my own would have conflicted due to their natures. Mine being human and yours being demonic in nature. So I stayed away. By the time I heard about you guys again, you had your revenge and you were a full time hunter. I didn’t want to get into that… I have a duty to Gotham, and Gotham and my family come first. You were fine on your own, they needed me.”

 

He sent a grim look towards Sam. “If it hadn’t been the apocalypse, I probably wouldn’t have come because Bobby claimed the Winchesters needed help. Sam you may be my biological brother… but I haven’t seen you since I was 9. There was no indication what so ever that you even wanted to see me. So the question is Sam, why didn’t you come find _me_ ? Why didn’t you search for _me_? You didn’t even ask Bobby about me until you needed to find me before the angels could.”

 

By the time he’d gotten to the end of his miniature rant he was all fired up an angry. It was almost reminiscent of the few months after he… woke up. He was angry that Sam was accusing _him_ of never searching when he was guilty of the exact same thing. It was ridiculous really. Sam looked at him confused, then he looked sad.

 

“I didn’t know” he mumbled, then louder he continued. “I had no idea until I went away to university that it was John who abandoned you and not the other way around. I thought that you had run away. That’s what John told me for a long time. But then he slipped up and admitted it when I was 18. But then I left.” Sam admitted.

 

Jason’s look of righteous anger dissolved into one of shock. Then, it transformed back into anger, only this time it was worse. There was almost a green glint in his eyes when he looked up, and his eyes flew towards the kitchen. “Are you telling me” he growled, “that that son of a bitch told you that he didn’t abandon me?!”

 

Sam looked taken aback by the sheer amount of anger in Jason’s visage. Before when he was angry at Sam, he had appeared slightly resigned and tired. “I knew he was trash but this… this takes the cake.” he growled.

 

“Why I’m gonna-” he gets cut off - poor Jason, no one’s letting him finish his sentences - yet again but this time by Dick. Specifically the screaming stopping and Dick walking into the den.

 

He removed his gloves with the practiced ease of someone in the medical field and then proceeded to plop down on Jason's lap. “Now Jaybird please don't get your feathers all ruffled. We have enough problems without you starting anymore” he scolded him.

 

Jason had the decency to look abashed. Then he realized himself and turned a questioning eye on Dick, silently asking him to share any information he was able to gain. Dick rolled his eyes and he slapped Jason playfully.

 

“I was able to find out what the last seal is. It's killing the first demon: Lilith. I was also able to get a time and a place for where she will be as well. Technically the order of the seals is very important. Well only the first and last. So technically speaking, if we kill her now… it should prevent the apocalypse. Or it could start it early but it's worth a shot.” Dick said shrugging.

 

“And the demon?” Bobby demanded. He probably wasn't too keen on having a demon in his house. Dick rolled his eyes but simply responded with “dead”.

 

Sam’s face lit up at the prospect of being able to fix the whole situation. But Dick still looked solemn. “There's just one thing that's gonna cause a problem on our end” Dick said.

 

Jason shot him a look and Dick sighed. He really didn’t seem to want to answer Jason’s silent questioned. He leaned his head against Jason's chest, snuggling into the slightly smaller man’s chest. He sighed, “we’re going to need to call B.”

 

“Lilith’s vessel is Dr. Harleen Quinzel a.k.a Harley Quinn”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE COMMENT!!! We're nearing the end of this fic (I think) and I do have a sequel(?) planned. It's gonna involve Winchesters visiting Gotham and Barbara. It'll be great I swear.


	33. Why Don't We Just Get Everyone Involved

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun facts to remember: Dick is 7 years older than Jason. Jason is actually a tiny bit shorter than Dick. And Jason still falls prey to the Lazarus syndrome. Jason is protective of Tim and a little shit on a good day. Also Dick’s uniform is like the one he had in Young Justice. 
> 
> If you spot any mistakes in the previous chapters feel free to point them out.
> 
> d_g (an anonymous comment) is to be given credit for the idea of the Justice League getting involved.

Bruce was attending yet another Justice League meeting he didn’t want to participate in. Now just really wasn’t a good time. Jason had called him the night before to give him an update on the situation and they were closing in on a possible source of information. Tim had found some information on the seals and had emailed it all to Dick and Jason.

 

So now they were just trying to track down Lilith. She no doubt held the key to solving their current predicament. And he could be helping Tim work some reconnaissance from their end of things, but instead he was stuck in yet another pointless Justice League meeting.

 

He resisted the urge to sigh as the Flash began to go on a tangent about something stupid that Wally did. Really there was far too many of these stories happening in the meetings. They needed to either do actual business, or let him leave the meetings and make them no longer mandatory.

 

Just when he thought that it couldn’t get any more dull and pointless, Superman decided to speak up about his latest battle with Lex Luthor. Honestly if he just let Bruce do some planning Lex Luthor would no longer be a problem. But Clark was just such a boy scout - and a prideful one at that that he had to solve all of his own problems even if someone was in the prime position to help.

 

It was completely stupid, but then again it was Superman. When wasn’t he a complete moron?

 

This time he couldn’t hold in the sigh of annoyance. This meeting had been going on for what seemed like forever and it wasn’t ending. It was almost ridiculous how long and tedious these meetings could really be.

 

He was just about to fake an emergency in Gotham - he could probably get some more research done, at least check out some of his leads - when Superman finished his… whatever and Diana spoke up.

 

“There’s something troubling happening to the human world. Something that my people have told stories about for years and years. Very few even know that it is happening. It is the end of the world, the apocalypse.” she said seriously.

 

This caused everyone to balk angrily. An apocalypse? If he hadn’t been told of the apocalypse before hand, and if he wasn’t so paranoid. Honestly he has plans in place for almost every type of apocalypse possible. Well.. he hadn’t actually been all that prepared for the apocalypse that he’d been saddled with… but he learned much from Jason’s notebook ad Tim’s own findings.

 

They would be prepared when the time came.

 

“There is a group of people who are trying to find a way to stop the apocalypse before the two archangels, Lucifer and Michael, fight and destroy earth in the process. They call themselves ‘Team Free Will’, and they have an angel on their side. His name is Castiel. Other than that there are 5 humans who hunt the supernatural and kill it. Their names are Bobby Singer, John Winchester, Sam Winchester, John Blake, and Jason Todd” she continued.

 

Bruce had known this, but that didn’t stop him from being slightly surprised. That reaction was due to the fact that Diana even knew about this. Well, she could technically count as a supernatural creature, so it really wasn’t all that surprising. He relaxed a bit, knowing that Dick hadn’t used his real name and had instead chosen to go by his preferred alias when talking to people outside of ‘Team Free Will’.

 

Outwardly he didn’t react at all at the mention of his formerly dead son’s name, but then again, he’d known that Jason was alive for 7 years.

 

Clark on the other hand, didn’t have that composer.

 

He openly gasped and shot a worried look at Batman. Prompting everyone else to send looks at him as well. He was one of the few League members that had been there during Jason’s funeral and knew their identities. All of the original League members knew his identity, but some of the newer members still weren’t trusted enough to know that information.

 

And even those that knew his identity didn’t actually know that there even had been a Robin in between Dick and Tim. Consequences of having everyone stay as far away from Gotham as possible. And among the few that even knew of Jason’s existence knew that he had been killed by the Joker.

 

Unfortunately, Clark - who was actually a horrible liar, I mean, look at his disguise - was one of those few people who knew everything. Including how distraught Bruce had been at the death of his somewhat wayward son. Even then, Jason had been quite the rebel. He’d always mouthed off at Superman, claiming that he was too good to be true and that he had no business dealing with the real horrors like Gotham.

 

Well that certainly had a new meaning now. He’d always paused before stating Gotham. Bruce wondered if he might have meant the supernatural. Maybe he hadn’t been talking to just Clark at the time.

 

But now everyone in the meeting room was staring at him and he honestly wanted to slap Clark. He had no sense of how to be subtle. Bruce decided to simply say nothing and let everyone stew in the awkward situation. Serves Clark right, he as the one who created the situation, he’d have to deal with it. There was no way that Bruce was going to deal with yet another one of Clark’s messes.

 

“Jason Todd shouldn’t be alive. Are you sure you heard the name right?” Clark asked, a slight tone of desperation in his voice. Diana frowned slightly at the odd question but answered him anyway.

 

“Yes I’m sure. He’s built himself quite the name. I’m sure you’ve heard of him Batman, he goes by the Red Hood when he’s in Gotham.” she said in a slightly confused tone. It seems that she’s having a rather hard time trying to understand Clark. Bruce could relate.

 

This caused Clark’s alarmed look to worsen. Honestly how had he not been discovered yet? He was about as subtle as a brick wall. He sent Bruce a frantic look and Bruce rolled his eyes under the cowl. Honestly.

 

“Hey B, wasn’t that the name the Joker had before he became the Joker?” The Flash asked casually. Bruce merely stared at Clark in interest as even more blood drained from his face. Bruce wouldn’t have thought that it was possible, but it seems that Superman’s face can get even more pale than originally thought.

 

Bruce was about to answer them, because even if they didn’t deserve an answer, he knew that they wouldn’t leave him alone until he did give an answer, when suddenly his communicator went off. Considering Tim was currently in the Watchtower working on some files (they didn’t ever go anywhere alone, Tim may be a very capable Robin, but there was no way that they were splitting up after… what happened last time) it had to be either Jason or Dick.

 

They were the only ones who used that specific frequency when contacting him. Barbara always insisted on using a separate frequency when she contacted him for anything, and she was in the Batcave. Completely ignoring the rest of the League, who by now were all staring at him intently, he put a hand up to his ear and answered the call.

 

“Yes?”

 

“We found her” was all that he got in response. His eyes widened behind the cowl, and the other League members could see it even though he was wearing the cowl. The weird white eye shaped things change in size. Dick had modified the cowl one day, now it made it harder to hide emotions, because despite popular belief, he actually did express emotion.

 

“What is it? Did something happen to Bar- Batgirl?!” Clark asked in a panicked tone. Bruce resisted the urge to roll his eyes. His boys may be bad, but Clark was at least 50% of the reason for his headaches.

 

He completely ignored Clark in favour of asking his son what he meant. “What do you mean? Where is she? Do you need back up?” he asked all in quick succession, not even giving Jason a moment to respond. Jason wouldn’t call unless it was absolutely necessary. He’d already gotten a call from Dick as just a status update, but Jason wasn’t someone who was all that good at keeping in contact.

 

“We got some information from an inside source. Lilith will be in Gotham in a 2 days in the abandoned section of Arkham Asylum. But Bruce, there’s something you need to know…” he said in a serious tone. This immediately set off warning bells in his head.

 

Jason was rarely serious, he generally preferred to speak sarcastically or in a joking manner. Almost like how Dick was always positive and optimistic. Hearing him serious meant that something seriously wrong had happened. “What is it?” he asked carefully, not letting any emotion show in his voice.

 

Clark looked almost constipated as he watched the dark knight in worry. He feared that the mention of the dead Robin would bring up unfortunate memories. Especially after the fact that the Joker had almost taken the third Robin from him too. The rest of the Justice were watching in both confusion and anticipation. They knew that there was a slim chance of Bruce actually telling them what was going on, but maybe they could get an idea on what’s happening from the one sided conversation.

 

Clark (and some of the other League members with enhanced hearing) could hear everything that was being said between Batman and the mystery man. The way that the mystery man was giving Bruce the news promised trouble.

 

“It’s who Lilith is possessing. It’s Harley Quinn” Jason said in a slightly defeated tone. Jason had never hated Harley Quinn like he had the Joker. She hadn’t been involved in his death, so he held no grudge for that. He only disliked her because she tended to go wherever the Joker went, and he usually left a trail of dead behind him.

 

Bruce closed his eyes. They hadn’t heard of Harley Quinn in years. She hadn’t kicked up any kind of fuss after Jason killed the Joker, so they hadn’t seen her since. It was like she’d dropped off the grid and given up her life as a super villain. They had checked all the different prisons that could hold her, and all of the League’s contacts, but they hadn’t been able to find her.

 

Well Harley Quinn being used as a demon’s vessel kind of made sense. She was vulnerable - well she was always vulnerable, but she had a fire due to her work with the Joker and her time in Arkham hadn’t broken her at all (she was already unhinged) - even more so after the Joker was killed.

 

It’s no surprise that a demon picked up on that and decided to use her as a vessel. Her body was in excellent physical condition - minus the whole malnourished thing that Arkham caused - considering she was an Olympic gymnast before becoming a psychiatrist. She possessed surprising physical strength as well, so even if a demon augmented the natural human capabilities Harley Quinn was already a very dangerous opponent.

 

Still, he felt pity for the girl. She hadn’t meant to fall in love with the Joker, and it wasn’t like he had treated her all that well either. Now she was a victim of demonic possession, and that damages someone in a way that is irreversible. There was no getting Harley Quinn back after this.

 

He still felt it would be wrong to kill her, even if she wasn’t innocent to begin with. Killing her would still be wrong, but perhaps it would be kinder. Her only reason for living is gone, and her death would stop the apocalypse. In times of war, a soldier did what he had to do. And this was war.

 

“Are you sure?” he asked finally, he didn’t want to think about what would have to be done if the time came. He heard Jason let out a shaky breath on the other end of the line.

 

“Yes” he said finally. There was another moment of silence before Jason asked “are you in a meeting right now?” Bruce sighed. That change in topic was pathetic even for Jason. The Robins may have gotten good at lying in the field but they were horrible at changing the subject when they got uncomfortable.

 

“Yes, actually. Wonder Woman was just informing everyone about the apocalypse and she brought up your little Team Free Will.” he said, making it clear how he felt about the name. This sentence got everyone’s attention and they all moved forward in an attempt to hear.

 

He heard Jason snicker over the line. “Is that what they’re calling us now? And Wonder Woman knows?  Well I suppose it makes sense considering she technically falls under the supernatural. Hmm… Put me on speaker?” he asked. Bruce thought about it, he was reluctant, but it would be easier than explaining himself.

 

He replied by transferring the call to the central comm in the middle of the table. “You’re on speaker” he called, loud enough that Jason could hear. Jason cleared his throat loudly before addressing the League.

 

“So I don’t know how much you guys know about the apocalypse so far, but here’s a quick recap. Lucifer is trying to rise, and to do that 66 seals need to be broken. But they need to be broken in a specific order, theoretically if we break the final seal before they can break the other 65, then the apocalypse cannot happen.”

 

“So we - being Team Free Will, which is truly a ridiculous name, but Cas picked it out so who am I to complain - are trying to track down Lilith who is the 66th seal. We found her, only problem is that her vessel is Harley Quinn, so she technically falls under your jurisdiction. I needed to call Batman. Would any of you be willing to pay back up for some hunters and an angel? It would involve killing people, just as a warning.” Jason explained.

 

Diana sent Bruce a look before speaking up. “Would it be ok if we asked you a few questions? I have to admit my knowledge is limited on this. Who am I speaking to?” she asked politely. Jason grumbled under his breath about polite super heroes but then he responded.

 

“My name is Jason Todd ma’am. And I’ll be happy to answer any questions. We have about 2 days before the big show down anyway.” he said. His voice held it’s normal mocking lilt, and Bruce relaxed minutely. If Jason was back to joking then things weren’t all that bad.

 

This time it was Clark who spoke, although he blurted it out almost right after Jason finished talking. “Are you Jason Todd as in the second Robin?” he asked bluntly, “that’s not possible, you’re dead.”

 

“Well that was rather insensitive, Supes” Jason replied. Clark lurched back after hearing the nickname that the man who he thought was dead said. “Yes I am the second Robin, and I am in fact very alive. Although you’re right, I did die. You see someone made a deal, because the flying assholes need me to be the vessel of Michael for the big show down, so I was revived.” he explained, exasperation clear in his tone.

 

“And yes, Batman does indeed know who and what I am. B, I’ll send Robin the rest of the information. Now, I need to go real soon. How many of you can I expect to show up and help?” he continued.

 

The League members all exchanged looks before Diana responded. “I will be there to help you young warrior. You can expect me there.” Clark on the other hand, was nowhere near as enthusiastic as Diana was.

 

“No way, Wonder Woman, you’re going to have to kill people! Batman, you can’t be ok with this!” he nearly yelled. He was clearly having a hard time dealing with this entire thing. Batman rolled his eyes at Clark, but Diana cut in before he could respond.

 

“And this is war, Superman. Sometimes people die, and there’s nothing that’s going to change that. I’ll take killing a few humans - who would most likely be permanently scarred after this anyway, killing them is a kindness - over the entire world falling to ruin!” she yelled at him.

 

The rest of the League looked somewhat cowed,, but no one else spoke up. Diana glared at them all before addressing Jason once more. “It would seem that Batman and I are the only ones that will be coming to aid you young warrior. I regret the fact that we can’t help you more.”

 

“It’s fine, your support is more than expected. Thank you. You can get the rest of the information from Batman. I need to go make sure that Nightwing doesn’t kill the Winchesters, I left Dick to explain who I was going to call and why I had to call in the first place and the Winchesters are idiots.” Jason responded. “B, I’ll be in touch” he said, this time directing his comment at Batman.

 

Then there was an audible click and the call disconnected.

 

Clark rounded on Bruce almost as soon as Jason could no longer overhear. “What the hell was that? Are you telling me you’re okay with killing? And why didn’t I know that Jason was back! And the Red Hood too? Why are you working with a murderer?” he demanded, leaning over the table to get into Bruce’s face.

 

Bruce merely stared at him calmly. “Hunters are very different from us. The things they hunt aren’t human, and there’s no other choice. Like Diana said, it is kinder to kill them than to make them suffer with the memories of all the horrible things that the demons forced them to do. They would have to spend the rest of their lives in a mental hospital because no one would believe them. There isn’t even a guarantee that the demons even left the host alive in the first place.”

 

“I know a lot more about the supernatural world than you do Clark, you’d do well to remember that.” he replied calmly. “Jason also isn’t a killer anymore. He stopped, and he didn’t ever kill any innocent people. As for not telling you? Quite frankly I don’t think you really have a right to know.”

 

Clark looked shocked at the dressing down that Bruce had just given them. Batman mentally scoffed, he was the rich kid but it seems that Clark was still unused to being told ‘no’ and that he’s wrong. He abruptly stood up and nodded respectfully to Diana, offering her a hand. He would be heading over to Tim to make him aware of the situation and was inviting her to come with him.

 

She took his hand and the two of them left the meeting room, leaving the rest of the League to gaawk at the two retreating figures.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment? We're actually nearing the end I swear. If you want a sequel (or a connected oneshot) just ask! (suggest things)  
> I already have one in the making for after, with the Winchesters in Gotham and John meeting Barbara. And I have something planned for Adam. I haven't forgotten about it.
> 
> Also I'm really sorry for both the wait and the quality of this chapter. It was just a really tough one to write.


	34. It's Finally Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Omg it's been a long and wild ride but it's finally over. I just want to thank all of you so much for sticking with this story and commenting. It really means the world to me! I truly appreciate all of you and I hope that you find this chapter to your liking. 
> 
> I struggled with finishing it so it's not all that great. But it's an ending. Please read the ending note. 
> 
> IT HAS INFORMATION ABOUT A SEQUEL

_“Lilith’s vessel is Dr. Harleen Quinzel a.k.a Harley Quinn”_

 

After Dick dropped the bomb on all of them, Jason jumped to his feet. “What” he growled dangerously. He didn’t know what to think. He thought that he could avoid talking to the Justice League - they weren’t exactly on the greatest of terms, especially after the whole killing criminals and being a sort of criminal thing - and Superman had never like him, even when he’d been a Robin.

 

The fact that the League hadn’t known that he was Jason Todd was kind of the cherry on top. Their horror and disgust wasn’t all that easy to take. There was only so many insults that he could let roll off of his back in such a short period of time. John Winchester alone, was enough to deal with.

 

He didn’t need the stupid boy scout judging him any more than he needed his deadbeat dad to.

 

* * *

 

As soon as Jason left the room to make his call, Dick was faced by 4 curious people. They wanted answers and Jason had taken the easy way out by making the call to the League. He sighed as he tried to figure out what would be safe to tell. He couldn't lie too much, but… he couldn't just tell them a lie. They deserved to know some of the truth. Even if it isn't all of it.

 

“What the hell was that about? Who is this Dr. Harleen Quinzel and why is she so important? What haven't you been telling us?” Sam demanded. Dick sighed louder. Ughh this was not going to be fun. He rubbed his forehead nervously as he tried to think of a way to answer that.

 

“Well, you know how Gotham is one of the cities that has vigilantes right? And that Jason is the mob boss/vigilante known as the Red Hood.” he began, figuring it was best to start from stuff they already knew and work from there. “Well he wasn’t always the Red Hood, but he has always been one of Gotham’s signature vigilantes.”

 

Sam shook his head confused at the minimal explanation that Dick was giving. He looked like he wanted to interrupt with more questions, but Bobby stopped him. Dick gave him a nod of thanks as he continued. “He used to be a Robin. The second Robin in fact. And he was killed when he was 14.”

 

John frowned. “But by the time the second Robin appeared, Dean’s age wouldn’t fit.” he argued. DIck resisted the urge to scream at the idiotic man. Jason clearly didn’t recognize that name anymore so why John insisted on using it even when Jason wasn’t actually there bothered him a lot.

 

“No, I remember hearing about how the Joker killed a Robin. It was before the third one. The second Robin had only been introduced for about a week before it was announced that he was dead.” Sam said, seeming to remember where he’d heard that. At Dick’s questioning look, he blushed and looked down. “Jess - my deceased girlfriend - came from Gotham. She hated the place, but really got into the whole vigilante business. She made sure to keep up on the news. She was heartbroken when it was announced Robin was dead.”

 

Dick nodded in acceptance. It certainly wasn’t that farfetched, and by the sympathetic looks Bobby was giving Sam, Jess’s death hadn’t been all that nice. It was most likely related in some way to the supernatural.

 

“Yeah, so Jason came back, but he didn’t know why. And that’s why he called you John. He wanted to know if any of you made a deal considering we didn’t even know about the supernatural. He woke up 6ft under and confused. He eventually found out what happened, and it’s stuff on our end so it’s not all that important. All you need to know is that Jason was Robin, and the Joker killed him.”

 

“As for Harley Quinn, she’s what you’d call the Joker’s girlfriend. She’s another insane villain and she’s been missing since the Joker was killed.” He put a thoughtful finger on his chin as he wondered out loud. “I wonder if she was there during the…” he frowned for a moment, before remembering that he had an audience and what he’d just revealed to them without Jason’s permission.

 

“You can't tell Jason that I told you he was a Robin. He would be so mad” he pleaded. The 4 exchanged looks before nodding even John. Because even though he was a major douche nozzle, deep down he still felt love for his wayward son. Even if Bruce was better at showing it. There was an awkward silence for a bit where no one spoke. No one knew what to say or how to continue after hearing that specific piece of information.

 

“How did you meet Jason if you're a cop?” Bobby asked, changing the subject. Dick smiled slyly. Now that he would leave up to their imagination. He was about to respond when Jason came walking into the room. He looked up nervously, silently begging the others to not tell him what he’d just revealed.

 

* * *

 

Jason walked to the other room, after leaving the kitchen and putting down the phone. He’d need to tell Dick what had happened on the phone. Jason rubbed a hand down his face as he entered the room. That phone call with the League had really taken a lot out of him. He froze in the doorway when he saw that everyone’s eyes were on him.

 

“You work with Batman?” Sam asks to break the silence. “But you’re dating a cop? Isn’t that like, illegal considering you’re sort of a vigilante/mob boss?” Jason frowned and sent a warning glare at Dick. It seems as if Dick hadn’t told him about his own involvement with the Bat clan then. He rolled his eyes as Dick beamed at him and stuck his tongue out playfully.

 

“Dick’s not too fond of rules. He’s part of a unit at the GCPD that works with Batman. And if you didn’t get the memo, I am part of the Batfamily, although I work with Nightwing more than I work with Batman.” he grumbled, walking further into the room and sitting on the arm of the chair that Dick had taken.

 

“Now what exactly has Dick told you?” He asked, shooting another look at Dick. Dick flushed and looked down sheepishly. Jason looked pointedly at the rest of the people in the room, waiting for someone to answer. Bobby sat up straighter and leaned forward.

 

“He told us that you were that mob boss the Red Hood that had taken over lower Gotham, and that you worked with Batman, although you don’t have many connection to the Justice League, only through Batman. He also said they might be sending back up?” Seeing that no one else in the room was giving any indication that anything other than that was said, and Dick wasn’t wearing his telltale sheepish look although he did look uncomfortable... Jason relaxed.

 

“Yeah.” he said, resting a hand on the back of his neck. “Wonder Woman will be meeting us in Gotham along with Batman and Robin. Nightwing won’t be there because he’s away on a… mission. It’s equally as important as this I assure you” he explained. Dick choked on his spit.

 

“Why isn’t any of the other Justice League members coming to help? I mean surely this has to be the most important thing right now.” Sam asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. He looked like a lost puppy and Jason just wanted to sigh. Hunters, thinking their bullshit was the most horrible thing out there.

 

“Well, there’s a lot of intergalactic communication going on now. It doesn’t help that the League doesn’t usually deal with the supernatural. They like to avoid that. There’s also the whole killing thing that the Justice League just doesn’t agree with.” he said nonchalantly, trying to hide his anger behind indifference.

 

He was apparently doing a pretty great job, because John began to get angry. “The whole world is at stake and the Justice League can’t spare more than _two_ people?” he demanded harshly. Jason rolled his eyes. This was just proving his point that hunters always seemed to think that their problems were the center of everything.

 

“Well you’re obviously not their greatest concern right now. So suck it up and be grateful that they could even spare two of the best. They could have given us useless newbies.” Jason argued. John glared at him while Sam looked uneasy. Jason rolled his eyes. “Come one let's get a move on. They will meet us at the asylum.”

 

* * *

 

Team Free Will took their own methods of transportation to get to Gotham. Jason and Dick hoped on Jason’s motorcycle and John, Sam, Bobby, and surprisingly Castiel, were in John’s truck. Sam only had a few vague memories of Gotham from when he went there as a teenager. They’d just been passing through too, so it wasn’t like he got to see all that much. Gotham had been quiet.

 

Sam heard from a passing stranger that a vigilante had been killed. Apparently a teenage vigilante had been blown up by a psycho clown. At first Sam had thought that it might have been supernatural because a psycho clown sounded just a little far fetched, but John had quickly informed him that Gotham was weird. It was a supernatural deadzone and Gotham had it’s own villains, of the human kind.

 

Sam had scoffed at the idea of vigilantes. They weren’t prepared for what was out there. It made sense why they always seemed to die early. Now he regretted that thought considering his brother _was_ the second Robin. He feels sick to think that he essentially made fun of his older brothers intelligence unknowingly when he argued with Jess about how the second Robin was clearly untrained and probably got himself killed.

 

He had had no idea what the circumstances were and yet he’d made so many judgements. How could he have done that? He feels so ignorant.

 

He couldn’t see Jason to same. He’d known that his older brother had died, probably been killed. But he’d always assumed (always, he’d only met the guy the week before) that it had been from something supernatural. And he’d never even considered that Jason had only been 14. He knew that it’d been a long time since he’d been revived, but he never thought about how old Jason had been when he’d died.

 

It made him so angry. But he also felt great pity. Not only had Jason been abandoned when he was 9. But he’d been tortured and blown up when he was 14. Only for him to get back into hunting and being a mob boss on the second time around.

 

He tried his best not to show these emotions outwardly thought. Jason would hate it, and as far as he knew, Sam had no idea about his past as a Robin.

 

He gazed out the window as they neared the asylum. He couldn’t afford to dwell further on this subject. He had to prepare mentally for the taxing battle that was sure to ensue.

 

* * *

 

They were the first ones to arrive at the asylum. Then it was Jason and Dick. Now all they had to do was wait for Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman to arrive. Luckily they didn’t have to wait for long, because in no time at all, the Batmobile came barreling towards them. It parked about a second from hitting them. They only had to wait another moment before three figures stumbled out of the vehicle.

 

Bruce recovered quickly and soon it looked like there was no difference at all, but Diana was leaning heavily against the Batmobile and looking quite shell shocked. The last one to leave the tank was Tim who had a very satisfied smirk on his face.

 

“So you’re Batman” John started “the one who let my son die” Jason wanted to facepalm, but he was currently handing out hunting equipment (mainly angel blades they’d managed to find and gather, seeing as nothing else would work on the demons) as well as answering some more of Tim’s questions. Bruce stared at him coldly, and Jason knew he wouldn’t have to interfere. That was the look that Bruce always gave the Flash right before something serious happened to him. It promised pain.

 

“And you’re the one who abandoned him in a motel and left him for dead when he was 9” Batman answered. He obviously hit a sore spot because John flinched backwards. Even though that line clearly affected him, he continued to press forward, puffing his chest out and attempting to look threatening in the presence of Batman.

 

“You don’t look like much. More like some lazy bureaucrat with a suit than a powerful hero. And the little bean pole beside you looks like the wind could knock him over” John said, looking down at Tim. Tim frowned but he didn’t say anything. He simply began fiddling with one of the guns that Jason had modified for hunting.

 

John rolled his eyes, probably thinking that this was Tim’s effort to intimidate him. He would be wrong, Tim just wasn’t that great in social situations and tended to get awkward. He needed to keep busy. Then John turned to face Dick and Jason, leaving his back facing Bruce. “I thought you said that they were sending us people that could actually help. Not the human and his teenage sidekick” he said cockily.

 

Jason rolled his eyes. “If I remember correctly you were training Sam at around Robin’s age. And you’re human too” he said. “And Batman and Wonder Woman are two of the most powerful in the League. Appearances are deceiving, John” he sneered. “As for Robin, well let’s just say he’s used to dealing with worse things than demons.”

 

John looked skeptical, but then his gaze fell on Diana. He looked at her in disgust, and quite frankly Jason couldn’t be sure whether it was about the fact that she was an Amazon and technically a supernatural monster or if it was the fact that she was female. John had made far too many misogynistic remarks. Luckily he didn’t say anything and they were able to make it into the Asylum without further incident.

 

The halls were silent as they crept through them. It was odd, usually the sounds of screams of terror and insanity were deafening, but now there wasn’t any sound. Well, other than the crunch of John and Sam’s boots. Even Castiel was making noise. For Hunters they were pretty bad at being silent. Jason clenched his fists as they continued down the hall. Even Diana who was more accustomed to the battlefield than actually sneaking around was quieter.

 

God, even John’s walk was irritating. You could see that he’d passed it down to Sam as well. It just held so much confidence that it was Donald Trump level arrogant. Hunters were insufferable and he was unfortunately one of them.

 

They finally began to hear noise about 15 minutes into the asylum. It was quiet and muffled, but they could distinctly hear voices. And not just any voices, but the recognizable high pitched whine that was Harley Quinn’s voice. They began to follow that voice and Jason began to feel more and more uneasy. He couldn’t quite pinpoint what exactly was wrong, but then he realized that they were nearing the area where the Joker was usually held.

 

As they got closer and closer, they began to see why the place was so silent. Bodies lined the halls, all covered in blood and some severely mutilated. Sam made a face at the bodies but they kept trudging forward. Diana looked saddened even though most of these people were criminals who probably deserved it. There were still some innocents. Well as innocent as the staff of Gotham’s insane asylum could get.

 

Finally after what felt like hours, they made it into the area where the demons were waiting. They walked into the room, guns pointed in front of them, expecting an ambush, but nothing came. Instead there was about 9 demons - possessing the bodies of the inhabitants of Arkham Asylum of course - and Harley Quinn in full outfit stood waiting for them at the other end of the room on a slightly raised area. It looked almost like a theatre.

 

Why on earth would they have a theatre in this section of the asylum. It really begs to question who exactly was put in charge of the layout of this place. It was like a maze. That can’t be good for the staff or the patients that weren’t mass criminals. Admittedly there were very little, but still. It’s the thought that counts.

 

“Well if it isn’t the Winchesters and their pet angel!” Harley Quinn said mockingly as she twirled one of her pigtails around her finger. She chewed a piece of bubble gum loudly and popped a bubble. “And I see you’ve brought along some _heroes_. How rude.” She pouted. Bruce tensed at the familiar lilting tone, but one could still tell that it wasn’t quite Harley that was talking to them.

 

First of all, she wasn’t screaming at Jason for killing the Joker or mocking Batman. Second of all, her eyes were slightly glazed over and she didn’t look directly at any of them. Although there was still a cruel glint in her eyes, it still didn’t hold the same amount of insanity. “Lilith” he responded.

 

“Aw, I thought that you would for sure need a couple of guesses. You’re no fun. I was doing such a great job of being her” she said in a tone that was very different from anything Harley usually sounded like. “Well, what brings you here, deary? You’re a bit ahead of schedule” she sneered. Jason rolled his eyes. Of course she would be like this.

 

Demons.

 

“Yeah about that.” Jason started. “You see, I don’t really care about this stupid prophecy all of you think should be fulfilled, so I’m essentially going to nip that thought in the bud before it can take form. How do you feel about dying tonight?” he asked, faking a jovial tone. Lilith scowled.

 

“That just isn’t going to work with our plans, hun. I’m afraid I’m not going to be the one to die today. You will.” She said sharply, and just like that they were fighting. Lilith launched herself at Jason while the other demons kept the rest occupied. It was a close battle, both sustained a decent amount of wounds.

 

The longer they fought the more Lilith seemed to get frustrated with the fact that she didn’t have the upper hand. Then there was a moment where the tables began to turn and the fight shifted. Lilith faltered for some reason, her eyes flashing between insane and sharp and cruel. Jason was able to get the upper hand and overpower her.

 

Jason held the angel blade to Harley’s ribs. Her eyes had returned to normal and they were filled with fear and sorrow. Yet there was a strange emptiness hanging around the edges, just there behind her fear. He had a gun held to the back of her head and the blade ready to stab her at a moment's notice. But something stopped him.

 

It was her eyes. He didn’t know what it was, but somehow he knew that it was her, not Lilith. “Do it” she whispered, eyes darting back and forth frantically. “She’s always here. You need to make her go away.” Then her eyes focused on his again, staring intensely into his eyes. “It’s been so lonely withou’ Mista’ Jay. I just wanted ta see ‘im again.”

 

Jason stared at her for a moment, seeing the white beginning to creep around her eyes as the fear began to increase as well. Then he shoved the blade through her rib cage and into her heart. There was a nearly blinding white light and a shriek of pain that he knew to be Lilith’s because no matter how hurt Harley was, she’d never ever cried out in pain. Not even when the Joker died.

 

Then it was silent. Just for a moment.

 

After that single pause where no one moved, Harley’s body fell off of the blade and collapsed to the floor, a bloody pool beginning to form around her corpse. As soon as her body came in contact with the floor with an audible thump, the other demons that they hadn’t taken out yet left their host bodies, letting the dead bodies follow Harley’s example.

 

And just like that it was over. The spell was broken and everyone unfroze.

 

“Jason” Bruce said, rushing over towards Jason and checking him over for injuries. “Are you ok?” he asked, allowing the tiniest bit of emotion to slip into his deep bat growl. Dick followed suit and began to inspect both Tim and Jason for injuries, somehow managing to juggle that and scolding Tim for taking unnecessary risks during the battle.

 

John watched on in silence, nursing his own wounds.

 

Jason ignored both Bruce and Dick and instead turned to face Castiel. “Is it over?” he asked breathlessly. Castiel nodded solemnly. It seems so, Jason” he answered. Jason let out a sigh before slumping over. It was over. Harley Quinn was dead and the apocalypse wasn’t going to happen.

 

Life could go back to normal. Or as normal as things ever were. Dick rushed over, letting Bruce take over checking Tim. He caught Jason and began to support him. “We can leave this all behind” he mumbled. “Go back to how things were.”

 

Dick ran a hand through Jason’s hair, the blood that had splashed on his face was beginning to get sticky and Jason scrunched his face up in annoyance. “I don’t know if we can do that just yet Little Wing. I think you’re birth family wants some answers. They hadn’t been all that happy with the answers I’d given them before.” he responded. Jason sighed but he nodded anyway.

 

He couldn’t say that he hadn’t seen it coming.

 

“Alright. We’ll take em’ to a motel outside of Gotham, but I don’t really think they need to know anything more. We’ll just see ‘em off.” he said tiredly. “Tell B to take Tim and Diana back with him to the cave” Jason whispered as he hobbled off towards Sam to tell him the plan. The beaten up and bruised hunters agreed that it would be better to find a safe place to lick their wounds.

 

Jason drove the three hunters while Dick took his motorcycle. Telling Jason he’d meet them there, although he might be a bit late. Jason rolled his eyes as he knew what Dick was planning. But he decided to indulge him. He wasn't going to be giving them anymore answers. He might as well leave them with this one piece of information and a whole other slew of questions.

 

When they got to the motel, Jason payed for it before helping them all patch themselves up. The hunters were all oddly silent as they seemed to be waiting for Jason to be the one to make the first move. But Jason had never been fond of chick flick moments, so he did his work in silence.

 

Then, when he heard the familiar purr of his motorcycle and stood up to bid his goodbyes. “Wait, Dick’s a cop. How’d he get involved in all of this vigilante business?” Sam said abruptly as Jason was opening the door.

 

Jason smirked. He opened the door wide and took a step out as they all gathered around the door. “Didn’t he tell you?” he said coyly, as he turned to face them, Dick - in his Nightwing uniform - and his motorcycle in full view. “He’s Nightwing.” Then he turned and hopped onto the back of the motorcycle as Dick drove out of the parking lot as fast as he could. He looked back and laughed as he thought about their reactions all the way back to the cave.

  
  
  
  
  
  


* * *

 

“She was a good woman you know” Jason murmured as he knelt beside a tombstone. “She did what she was asked to just because she believed in me. No one had ever done something like that before. No one had ever given their life and afterlife for me before.”

 

He was kneeling in front of a grave and talking quietly. To whom he had no idea. He was alone in the dreary cemetery. It was a dreary day, with clouds covering the sun. It was raining on and off, and he was lucky enough to have arrived at the site on an off period. The ground was still damp, but he payed it no mind, instead choosing to place all of his attention on the stone in front of him.

 

“The angels didn’t even cut her any slack. They just let her rot in hell.” He said angrily, crinkling the paper he held in his hand. It was wrapped around a bouquet of hydrangea and ivy. “And there’s nothing I can do to pay her back for her sacrifice.”

 

A hand rested on his shoulder and a comforting voice spoke from behind him. “You did all you could, Jay. You saved the world. I think that makes her sacrifice worth it.” Dick said softly, kneeling gently behind him. Jason turned and buried his head in Dick’s shoulder.

 

“She shouldn’t have had to be the one to pay the price.” he answered. Dick said no more and they were silent for a time. Then Jason carefully placed the bouquet in front of the grave and silently prayed for her. Even if God was an asshole, maybe he could do something to help this woman, innocent of all crimes but caring.

 

“It’s been 5 years, Jay.” Dick whispered softly.

 

“I never feel any less guilty”

 

Dick stood up and began to walk away. “I’ll be waiting by the motorcycle. We’ll gank the werewolf later tonight after I get all the info I can from Barbara.” Jason simply nodded before gazing forlornly at the grave. He traced the words engraved onto the marble stone lightly with his fingertips.

 

_Missouri Moseley_

_A Hero and a Beloved Friend_

 

“I’ll visit again next year” he told the unforgiving stone quietly, before standing up and leaving the graveyard. There was things to hunt and people to save. Hmm, he continued the family business after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be another story in this series. But it will be prety different then this one. I toyed around with a sequel, but I don't think it will happen. I have too many other stories that I want to write to be able to support a sequel for this.
> 
> The other story will follow a similar plot line but a brotherly relationship between Jason and Dick because Dean needs a big brother. It will also happen a bit differently. John will be the one to venture into Gotham and discover the world of vigilantes. He discovers form some demon or something that his son is dead and he goes to yell at Bruce. Meanwhile Bruce and co have just gotten Jason back into the fold after so long.
> 
> Before you ask, yes there will be plenty of big sister Barbara who is dating Dick. And despite her disability she will kick ass. And also in this story the role of Adam will appear. The thing is, it didn't really work with this specific plot line but in the new one it will. I hope all of you lovely readers will check it out when I actually get to writing it. Please subscribe.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly the Dick/Jason was just for shits and giggles. Plus Sam's reaction will be good when the story actually picks up. I've only ever seen this done once, and I couldn't help but want to try it out. They haven't updated in a year and they only made it to where Dean enters Gotham. In like 700 words too, so yeah. Oh and T for language.


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